Begonias on a 19th floor west facing balcony? Yes!

Finding a nice shady spot, Tiffie enjoys our hottest day yet, on the balcony

I am not usually a big fan of begonias BUT I found these (on the far left and right of the photo) about 3 weeks ago and they just looked so beautiful I nabbed them. I did wonder though, how they were going to handle both the heat (when it came) and the wind (sure to come).

Well, I am happy to report that they are really doing quite well! I need to make sure to remember to feed them on schedule (and yes, I will be using the Better World plant food and not cheaping out and using the petroleum based fertilizer). 

So, I would say, if you find a healthy beautiful begonia and want to bring it home to your balcony why not? As long as you do have some shade for them and here on my balcony, the wall is opaque and that does limit their sun time. Even though that dark blue wall is uuuuugly, it does allow for begonias at least. I have an idea on how to hide that wall but that will take some work (if you are curious about that just check back in a few weeks and I hope to have the solution for you to see!). If you have a glass wall, and you face south, east or west, they make get a little scorched. North facing balconies should be fine though. Enjoy your balcony!

West Side Railing Balcony Container - Dhalias, Coleus and White Bacopa

This planter overlooks due west

Here's the first container planted for the west side railing balcony container. I used Dahlias (a larger dark pink flower dahlia as the central piece, two lighter pink, smaller flower headed dahlias planted on either side of the larger one) 

close up of light and darker pink Dahlias

and white bacopa on the far left and right of the planter. Bacopa did very well last year on the railing where it gets VERY windy at times. 

looking south west from the balcony
lake Ontario is off in the distance

There are still planters to be added and filled. Note the coconut husk planters further along the railing. A trip to my local gardening center is in store and I can hardly wait! I checked out Forest Hill Loblaws again but there isn't very much left of interest. It seems this year the selection wasn't as good as last year, but I am on a mission to create a beautiful balcony garden!

Sweet Forget Me Nots in a container

The first time I have ever seen sweet Forget Me Not flowers. I was so happy to see them and scooped up just one plant as they were a little expensive. I popped them into a beautiful light-hearted green container and they look happy and sweet. They are a cool-loving flower so I don't know how long they will last but today it was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day 24º C (felt like 29ºC) and they did just fine. 

The Forget Me Not is the official flower of the Alzheimer's awareness campaign.