Container plants

26 Apr '05 9:46 am

The roof terrace plant collection has been sneakily growing in number over the past couple of months. Eggy has now banned me from buying any more, otherwise we really will have no space to go out onto the roof terrace ourselves Embarassed

I soon got bored of looking at the nerdy labels, so I've made a plant list to keep track of the plant's names and allow me to take the labels out of the pots.

Some are looking pretty twiggy - my first flirtation with an internet garden centre. They arrived with good root systems but not much up top - fingers crossed! I hold little hope for the canna bulbs growing now tho - I dug one up to check, nothing has changed since I planted it Sad

I would like to stress that there is no plan to my purchases - there was a vague garden design in mind originally, but there are just so many lovely plants to buy!!

18 Jun '05 7:18 am

I'm sure an update on this garden is due? Wink

There must have been considerable growth in the last two months Very Happy

8 Jul '05 10:09 am

Indeed, an update is well overdue - apologies!

The garden is in full summer glory. the roses are blooming, there's a wall of lavender and the flowers have arrived (and some have even gone).

The sunflowers are tall and blooming, and one (but only one!) of the bulbs has come up.

I feel a bit lost now that every thing is (relatively) established. No potting on or seedling to tend to. I am dead-heading the roses with a passion tho, determined to make the rose blooms last through the summer.

But mostly I just sit up on the roof terrace at the end of the day and soak in all the details of my little urban oasis Very Happy

8 Jul '05 12:18 pm

Wow!

I think that is incredible! Beautiful flowers. And the little rabbit looking flower made me giggle out loud. Thanks! Very Happy

21 Sep '05 9:44 am

It’s late summer (OK it’s autumn but I don’t want to admit it) and so the big colourful flower displays are over. The only good thing about the demise of summer is that I won’t have to water the pots so often. Or at least, they won’t die so quickly if I do forget.

The summer bulb pink Fairy Lilies (Zephyrantes Robusta) have finally decided to bloom. After only 3 flowers all summer, they are now flowering in all 6 pots at the same time. It take it back, Woolworths, your bulbs are not so rubbish after all (tho the Cannas didn’t even sprout).

The lime is doing much better than I would have hoped for when it arrived looking mighty poorly and, unsurprisingly, the bamboo is getting big.

My highly competitive sister-in-law is pleased that my ‘giant’ sunflowers only reached the same height as me, with such small pots to grow in. (Hers were 2 stories high. Ner na ner ner )

I’m concerned that the colour of many plants have changed since they arrived. Henry’s hebe is now red only on the very edges, and the pink flax is only vaguely pink now. Any ideas?

I’m looking forward to some autumn plant shopping. I missed out on the spring bulbs last year so I’ll start there. Hope I have enough colour to last through the winter.

21 Sep '05 9:57 am

Reflecting on the pros and cons of this beginner gardener’s first big season of container gardening, I’ve learnt...

– read the packets AND do what it says
– plant seeds in the growing position
– allow plants lots of space to grow into
– pots have lots of surfaces to lose water from.

I haven’t killed everything with my lack of aquattenion, but some are looking ropey...

Container plants

Container plants

Summer urban oasis

Season change on the roof terrace

An honest report