Flowers Galore

Spring is slowly making itself known around here and the plants are waking up from their "winter sleep". Some are further along than others and are happily celebrating with pretty flowers. I thought I'd share them, so be warned - there will be lots of photos (and a bunch of garden-type babbling at the end).

The white Easter cactus on the right is a new addition to my flowery herd, one I couldn't resist bringing home with me from the shop. Another two new arrivals are below; yellow and orange flaming Katies (English flower names are awesome).




Some of the oldies have gotten excited too, like this red-flowered Episcia.


Even the aquariums have offered their share of flowers, surprising me with this Anubias shown on the right!

The balcony is pretty bare at the moment, but I have grand plans. Oh yes. Grand plans indeed.

Part of this plan is growing a whole bunch of plants from seeds this year. The lemon basil, coriander, parsley and indian cress are already off to a good start, while others (such as sweet peas and edible peas, marigolds and thyme) are still waiting to show themselves. Exciting times!


The balcony garden isn't totally plantless though. The one thing I really, really want in a garden are roses, so this week I picked up a few miniature Mother's Day roses for myself (sorry mamma! ;) and will see how they do. Hopefully they'll survive winter!

I'll keep one on its own, one is planted in the flower box below with some pansies and lobelias, and the third will go into the big wooden box with the woodbine, ground-ivy and Hosta (which all seem to have made it through winter, yay). Interestingly enough the roses all look different - we'll see if they grow and flower differently too.

Well, that's enough plant talk. There's more than this to my grand balcony schemes, but I'll reveal the rest another time!