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Sunday,
April 3, 2005
Call me...Earth Mother!
The apartment complex sent around a request that we clean up our balconies, take down any seasonal lights and generally make them look halfway decent (I suspect I'm the cause for the seasonal lights clause -- kept forgetting to take down the icicle lights, bad Mellie, no chocolate). However, once I complied with this request, I realized how bare the balcony looked. And since we'll still be able to use it without broiling for another month or so, I figured what the hell -- let's dress it up some.
So I went to Home Depot with an eye towards hitting the gardening section. I already had two nice granite-colored window boxes waiting for support brackets, and I love red geraniums so I figured I'd fill those with geraniums, then check out the hanging basket options. As it turned out, the local HD was having a plant sale, so I picked up six red geraniums, a sixpack bed of polka dot vinca (white flower with red spot in the middle) and a sixpack bed of dianthus, also known as pinks (in this case, however, they're deep purple with white edging, as seen at left). I saw a hanging basket of velvety royal purple petunias that called to me, but the hook was broken and there was only one (I wanted to get matching ones), so I settled for red petunias, then grabbed a sixpack bed of purples to add to the baskets. Total expenditure -- $60. Hey, it was worth it.
An hour's worth of screwing in hooks, setting up brackets, waving at the neighbors, repotting, trimming, watering, etcetera later, and we had quite the verdant balcony. I wouldn't mind getting a palm for the back wall, if it can survive on that amount of light (must do research, yes), but that'll have to wait until payday next week.
LATER: And in looking for pictures of these plants so that I can show off my latest acquisitions, I've learned that vinca is harmful if eaten, which means it needs to come out of the window boxes -- the cats go on the balcony unattended, and will eat any greenery they can get their fangs on (I have kitty grass for them inside, but that's not nearly enough for my Mighty Hunters).
Pity -- the vinca were pretty. But Da Boyz are prettier.
Writing on a garden balcony
I'm sitting out on my balcony. The temps are somewhere in the mid-70's, with a mild breeze that takes the edge off the sun. The balcony is clean, and now has four pots of flowering plants (two window boxes, two hanging baskets) in addition to its sun and sky wind decoration. I have the kitchen door open so that the boys can wander out and find a convenient patch of sunlight when the mood takes them -- Jordan is currently prowling around my feet, occasionally poking his head between the balcony pilings so as to look at the outside world. I have a story to work on, a glass of Diet Coke with Lime at my side, and a husband who pokes his head out every so often to see if I need anything.
Life is good.