A Tour of the Balcony

I'm exhausted! Today I finally got around to doing everything on the balcony that I've been putting off for the last several months. I deep cleaned every nook and cranny, mounted plants on cork slabs, re-potted seedlings, re-arranged plants, and threw away plants that weren't pulling their weight. That's right, I was so hellbent on attaining balcony perfection that I was willing to ditch any plants that weren't worth keeping. What have I become?

I trashed those sickly Neoregelia carolinae bromeliads (they're common anyways) and the unhealthy rhipsalis baccifera (I have healthier ones) that hung like limp spaghetti from the balcony ledge and a few other stragglers as well. And you know what? It felt good! Life is too short, the balcony is too small and my time is too valuable to waste on weaklings that I could care less about. Please tell me I'm not entirely heartless.

Apart from cleaning house and saying goodbye to some puny plants, I also got around to mounting some epiphytes on the cork slabs that I bought at the Tropiflora fall festival. The small one up top is a medley of tillandsias, below and to the left is a larger slab that's mounted with a cattleya and some dischidias, and below that is Vriesea 'Komet' sharing a medium slab with some cuttings of the Rhipsalis baccifera that i took before I ditched it.To the right is a staghorn fern perched in a metal bucket, and to the far left is one of my rainforest drops. Actually, it's the one from the banner in the sidebar!

Remember my little vertical garden? It's becoming better established now and could technically be mounted flat on the wall, but I'd rather wait until after winter. Besides, it looks nice where it's at for the time being! Maybe I can outfit it with a custom frame by then to really make it pop.

This is one of my newer purchases, a dischidia. It's an epiphytic vine related to hoyas and milkweed that likes to hang in long strands like pearls. I hung it over the sliding glass door since it hangs straight down and doesn't get in the way. How's that for vertical gardening?

I don't know how I'd get along without these wire baskets that I salvaged earlier in the year. They make it possible for me to utilize the ledge as a place to garden and they stay put in heavy winds. Even the nor-easter that we had a few weeks ago was unable to make them budge! All of my seedlings, cuttings and mature plants can be nestled together so that watering is a breeze and they're as close to the sunlight as possible. They're like window boxes, only more versatile! I also have an Oncidium 'Sherry Baby' hanging its chocolate scented flowers over the ledge for neighbors to enjoy, but I forgot to take a photo.

Here's one oncidium that I did remember to get a shot of! Believe it or not, it's wrapped its roots around the metal shelving, effectively convincing me to bring the whole shelf indoors when the freezes arrive. I'd hate to damage those roots!

This landscape in miniature is home to two stoned crabs... wait, let me explain. The sand colored stones are really ghost crabs that became encased in coquina limestone, leaving a recognizably crabby shape. Isn't that just the coolest thing you've ever seen? 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the little tour! Now that I've cleaned it up, I'll actually have room to walk around, write and eat my breakfast again, just in time for this wonderful Florida fall weather.
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