Lettuce has Bolted, Peas are Drying Up, Pansies Dying But All is Not Lost!

I think it hit 38ºC today. It was one of the hottest days I have experienced here in Toronto yet. Some of the plants are hanging in, some not. A few days ago the aphids kicked up again and I had to totally pull up a basket of pansies as they were completely infested. Pansies just can't take this intense heat and couple that with the wind, I can't blame them. The Gerber daisy is a bit burnt as is the orange carnation but it really just happened today under this intense heat. I have confidence they will rebound.

But I can tell you who are the hardy ones. Coleus laughs at all this. The snap dragons, though not putting out new flowers are holding their own. Petunias haven't even noticed the heat. The swiss chard is doing very well as is the growing heirloom lettuce (even though I completely over planted the basket).

I will try to get some shots tomorrow and post them. It was really just too hot to be outside at all. I have been double watering the plants to make sure they don't dry out in this humid heat.

Need Height? Triple Pot Your Containers

I designed this container to take up as much room in the ugly corner of my balcony as possible. Luckily I found these beautiful begonia planter at my local Forest Hill Loblaws. I usually don't go for begonias but  they were just stunning. When I got it home I sat in on the ground, in the corner of my balcony. It looked so, meh. Then I had an idea.

I had quite a few containers left over from last year's balcony florals so I grabbed on of the smaller ones and placed it in the larger one. I dug out some soil from the larger container first so I could set the smaller container in and it wouldn't move around. I had some soil in the smaller container to that I could adjust the height of how I high I wanted the potted begonia to sit at. This ended up working like a tiered wedding cake effect. 

I planted some matching pansies in the bottom front of the large container to help tie in the unit as a whole. The colors of the whole ensemble are analogous colors (burgundy, ivory whites, tints of both cool and warmer pinks but all muted, stone and terra cotta colors of the containers with the colors of the green foliage make this an a deeply satisfying yet muted, calmer arrangement). As I continue unveiling my containers you will see that the way I designed things was to give the eye some rest and calm in amongst the bright bursts of color set across the balcony. 

The inspiration for this planter came from seeing plant holders (you know, the iron ones that you place your pot into to get if off the ground). I mean these things were over $20.00 bucks a pop and didn't look impressive at all. This, however, cost me nothing, this year anyway. Last year I had to pay for planter (set in the dirt) as it came with a plant but hey, if I didn't use it here it would just have gotten thrown out or recycled if possible (it's really a shame that so many containers aren't recyclable). The large container I bought last year to set in a hibiscus. 

Okay that's it for today and there's a lot more to come in the days ahead. I hope this blog gives you some motivation and/or ideas to enrich  your days with your love of gardening, even if you do live in a small space or place. Happy Gardening!