Thank you so much for your reply, Villain Rose! I'm just sad about my dying balcony garden while my neighbors seem to have healthy and beautiful flowers all summer long haha! Gardening is indeed an interesting hobby and I'll definitely look up about gazanias and marigolds so I can improve next year :) Do you know if they are good flowers for balcony since they stay in "containers" and can't really spread?

If your balcony is truly north facing than neither of those would be good choices. How much sun does the balcony receive (beginning at what time and ending when)? Generally, a north facing balcony in the northern hemisphere receives very little direct sunlight - maybe a little very early day sun and some late day sun - and both gazania and marigolds are full sun plants. So it may not be anything you have done that has caused their decline......only that they were not the best suggestions for your situation.

Flowering plants will bloom longer and look nicer if you pick/cut off the dead flowers. Try cutting off any dead parts, water and watch. There may be enough warm weather that they will come back and bloom more for you.

Do save the marigold seed. They are easy to grow and you might get interesting plants next year. Very skinny, google for photos to see what they look like.

Thank you for you reply too! I can't help you on what to grow in your area as I am not familiar with plants that will grow in Canada. We are in very different areas as I live in the tropics in Australia. Different plants will grow in different climates. What you could do though, is take some photos of plants that you like in your area, post them on here to ask these very nice people to identify and give some advice on growing conditions. When you know what they are, you could see if you could find them at your garden centre. If the plant has a tag, read it as there is alot of information on that little tag. Then if you want, you could google the names to find some additional information. I have found the people on the website extremely clever and really helpful. Everyones been just great!! You will have your failures, but you will learn as you go. By the way there is always another plant! As I said before have fun with your garden and good luck with it all!

In your climate, gazania are not perennial if left outside. (And are typically very difficult to keep alive inside over a winter.)

You really need to figure out what direction your balcony faces as well as observe (and write it down if you know yourself to be the forgetful type ;-) ) just how much direct sun your balcony gets over the course of a day. This is important information when choosing plants that will have the best chance of performing well for you.

As has been said, both marigolds and gazania are full sun plants typically desiring 6+ hours of direct sun.

Many, if not most, annuals require regular deadheading (removal of old/spent blooms) throughout the growing season. Deadhead as soon as the flowers start going downhill. One, it keeps them looking nicer than allowing dried up, ratty old blooms to stick around. Secondly, plants bloom for one reason and one reason only ... to reproduce. Because annuals have only one season to accomplish this, they bloom their heads off. Both blooming and seed production requires an enormous amount of energy and resources from the plants' point of view. If not deadheaded, annuals will give priority to putting their time and energy into seed production instead of producing lots of new blooms.

Just "looking" at the soil is not a good method for determining when to water. Stick your finger an inch or two (2.5-5cm) down below the soil surface. If it feels wet or very moist, don't water. You're better off with most plants erring on the side of underwatering than overwatering. (Gazania, btw, are among those plants that can suffer greatly from soil that stays too wet too long.)

The standard potting soil sold by most stores tends to be more "heavy"/water-retentive than ideal. As such, your plants might have benefited from having perlite blended with the soil before planting. Also, many potting soils already have fertilizer added. (This is particularly true of all Miracle Gro products.) If this was the case with the soil you used, then your addition of extra fertilizer may have harmed the plants. (To quote an old adage "you can have too much of a good thing.")

Whoa!!! Thank you so much guys for your time and detailed replies! I saved all the useful information you all gave me and I'll definitely work on that green thumb of mine! I'm pretty sure my balcony is facing North and not only I don't receive direct sunlight for a long period of time during the day, but this summer wasn't very that sunny overall, maybe that could explain some things. Instead of asking flower shops staff for suggestions, I think it's better I do my own research based on what I know about my balcony and its conditions and shop for the appropriate kind of flowers in the future :) For now I'll try cutting off any dead parts, water and watch, save those marigold seeds and keep everything you guys told me for next summer.

This being said, should I use a moisture control potting mix for next time? I'll make sure to check if the potting soil already have fertilizer added (but I think mine was too cheap to have any and it's really just a regular soil)

Also, the apartment in front of mine has those beautiful flowers and they seem to bloom all summer long (like they are mocking me, ha! ;) ) Could you guys tell me if those are petunias? (sorry for my blurry stalker picture hahaha!)

Anyway, like Villain Rose said, this community is so clever and helpful, even uplifting and supportive. I'm so very grateful for your words and help, thank you all :)

If your balcony faces north, then your neighbors across the way are facing south. That means they might have all day sun, while you have all day shade. I would strongly recommend coleus of any shade variety to add color and pizzazz to your balcony. Check out Rosie Gardens? or something close. Then you can have gorgeous color as long as your outdoor season lasts.

Martha

Nobody has answered your question. So I will. Yes they do look like petunias, just love the blurry stalker picture! Take care!

They look like petunias for me too! that stalker picture though.. lol. its always greener on the other side of the fence remember?