And the Winners Are...

These little orange flowers came back from the dead after our heat wave
and have been blooming non-stop ever since!

I wished I knew the name of these flowers. I came close to pulling this plant earlier in July when it looked like it had been killed by the heat wave. But I decided to give it a chance, continued to water it and sprinkle and feed it the Better World plant food. As if to show me that yes, indeed, it was a survivor it came back with a vengeance, a proliferation of flowers it has put out ever since. So, it is the clear winner on my balcony. It has survived and thrived all the heat, the winds and aphids. If you know the name of it, please drop me a line and tell me.

A little close up of this gem.

And the snap dragons have continued to bloom.
I have NEVER had snaps last this long, ever.

I also show the snap dragons as the runners-up. They were assaulted by all the same things as the little orange flowers, but I did spray them with insecticidal soap and they survived that. Very impressed and I have to say that the Better World plant food has perhaps, been of assistance in this.

Soon I will be leaving this balcony behind. I will take some of the flower baskets with that survived. Much of the garden is done now. I only got one cucumber from my plants so that was disappointing. But most of the flowers did well, the lettuce was fantastic, the peas good, and the spinach and swiss chard also did well. 

I will post how things go on my new balcony, as soon as I get settled and see how the plants are adapting. It is a northern facing balcony but only 7 floors up this time and it looks to be more sheltered. We'll see how things go. 

I hope my blog has helped answer some questions or give you ideas you were looking for this year. It has been fun and I have enjoyed meeting new friends as a result. Thank you so much for joining me on my journey and I hope you have had a great season as well. It truly has been a beautiful summer.

After our Storms today

Well, I took down some of the planters from the balcony railings as winds as gusty as 90 kms were predicted. We really didn't get anywhere near that so I didn't really have to do so but I would rather do that then container overboard!

The Aphids are Here, Again

Well today I was out watering my plants. I fed them last week and another feeding day approaches but today I decided to just water. I noticed my little daisies weren't doing as well as they should be. I was about to write it off to the heat but a closer looks showed a shiny, sticky substance on their leaves. A closer look, yep, aphids. Again.

I got out the insecticidal non-toxic (to us humans anyway) soap. I trimmed back the plant so got most of them off that way, and then sprayed the heck out of it. I made double sure to spray the plant from underneath as well and then sprayed the dirt as well.

It seems that I am able to keep them under control, but they do seem to emerge during the heat of middle summer. I guess there is no getting away from them, but one can keep them in check. Good luck with yours!