Wisteria

We have a lovely native wisteria, Wisteria americana, which is much more well-behaved than its Asian cousin.

Chinese Wisteria, although fragrant and lovely, is rampant and invasive, when not carefully confined on an arbor or fence.  It's a memory plant for me;  when my sister and I took piano lessons through our teens (she's now a music teacher and musician), we alternated being at the library, which was just down the street from a tremendous wisteria vine, filled with fragrance in the spring.

Wisteria sinesis, now, is a nemesis, something that we remove from strangling native trees and shrubs, and other plantings.

So I was quick to recognize and root out these wisteria seedlings--volunteers from some delivered mulch.

It may have been a single pod full of seeds, as they were all near each other!

Yikes, a vine that not only spreads through underground rhizomes, but also through seeds.  No wonder it's so 'successful'!

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Design tips for smaller bathrooms

If you have a smaller area designated for bathroom use, you will have to make some adjustments in order to make proper use of this space.Start by figuring out what things you need to have in your bathroom. For instance, if you aren’t planning to spend a lot of time in your bathroom, you can install just the main necessary equipments and items in order to feel comfortable. Another important factor is the wise choice of color because a pastel and light color is likely to make your bathroom look larger. The lighter shades are also more welcoming.

Even if your bathroom is small, you can still make it look quite elegant by using the right visual accents. You should use subtle wallpapers that can make your bathroom look larger. Floor coloring is another important issue and you should go for neutral or light colors in order to make the space look roomier. Light shades of blues, tans or grays are the best choices for a small bathroom because they can make it look more airy and sophisticated.

A small bathroom space should be lighted up with additional lights. If you notice that there is no space for such additional lights in your bathroom, you should go for the bulbs that provide a high wattage. These bulbs will make your bathroom very inviting and brighter. Don’t worry about decorating your bathroom either because even a smaller place is likely to be well decorated once you follow the right steps. 

Start by using only a few mirrors because overdoing with mirrors is likely to provide your bathroom with unwanted effects. Keep in mind that using too many mirrors in a small bathroom will emphasize only the corners of its space. So, you should be careful when it comes to selecting the places where you want to have mirrors installed. For instance, installing the mirrors opposite to each other is not a wise idea. Limit the mirrors in order not to show the real size of your bathroom.

You should cleat out the bathroom walls in order to create the illusion of a larger space. You should also keep your things floating. For instance, you might install floating cupboards and a wall mounted sink in order to prevent these items from taking too much from the floor space. You can utilize the bathroom floor for other useful things such as putting a plant or a trash can. Using the bathroom door is another useful tip that will help you save some space. The door is more useful and helpful than acting as a simple exit and entrance.  For instance, you can use it in order to install some clothes or towel hangers because this will conserve extra precious space. You will also be left with more space to use for the bathroom design you plan to have.

You might consider using the collapsible shower screens. Such shower screens come in various types such as sliding or foldable ones. You can also use curtains in order to get the division you want. Allowing natural light inside your bathroom is another wise thing for you to do because having a window installed in this space will make it look more spacious. However, you must make sure that the window is not too big because, if this is the case, you will defeat the initial purpose of trying to conserve wall space. Now that you know all these tips, you are truly ready to start designing your small bathroom .   

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It's that time of year again ...

I posted a couple of years ago about Milan's addiction to sedum. This is the time of year when, wherever you are in the city, look up and you'll see yellow streaks lining the balcony railings. It almost seems to be an unwritten law that you have it growing on your balcony, even if for the rest of the year you don't have so much as a pelargonium growing out there.

I mean, look at this one. Not exactly overflowing with plants and containers. But out of the four containers that are there, three contain sedum.

Why is it so ubiquitous? Probably because it's almost impossible to kill the stuff. It was the only succulent on my balcony which survived the exceptionally cold temperatures we had this year, and despite the fact that I overwatered it pitifully when it was still far too cold to do so, it bounced back. Leaves dropped, others turned brown, and for a while it looked considerably shell-shocked - but back it bounced.

The only thing you can do with it is give it away. And this I think is the clue. for I have never, ever seen it on sale anywhere. But it's the pass-along plant par excellence. When it gets too large, just break off the stems, stick them in another pot of earth - and give them to your neighbour, smiling sweetly as if you're doing them the greatest kindness on earth while secretly chuckling to yourself that you've managed to halve your stock in one fell swoop and make it sonmeone else's problem. Of course, she won't be able to kill it off either, so the following year she'll pass some along to her neighbour ...

And so it spreads inexorably, haunting the balconies of non-gardeners throughout the city. They'll scorch it all August, leaving it waterless while they're at the sea. They'll leave it to freeze all winter. But next spring, there it will be, proudly lining the balcony.

What type of sedum is it? No idea. I call it Sedum milanensis. And if that's not its name, it should be.

I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff. (As I said above, I have my obligatory container. Two in fact. Guess how I got them ?) For most of the year it just sits there, looking boring, grey and unattractive. And then for a couple of weeks in April, it explodes and it's glorious. And not only do I enjoy miy own but I'm also fascinated by looking up and seeing all the yellow-lined balconies. Why else do you think this is the second post on the same topic in three years?

So hooray for the sedum. If only because it encourages non-gardeners to have at least one plant on their balconies, to my mind it's earned its place on mine.

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Warm Bedroom Interior Decorating Ideas by Huelsta

Warm Bedroom Interior Decorating Ideas by Huelsta

Bedroom furniture by Huelsta gives an unlimited amount of decorating ideas. Bedrooms in warm and natural colors are great place to relax and recharge. Thanks to modernism of Huelsta collections such bedrooms are also great addition to houses decorated in most styles. You can’t say the same about Maura Taft decorating even though it doesn’t look worse. We spent most of our time in bedrooms with closed eyes, but despite of that waking up in warm decorated bedroom will be better and more refreshing than waking up in colorful bedroom for most people. Some people of course think that colorful bedrooms are more modern and choose them but Huelsta has furniture for such people too.

Warm Bedroom Interior Decorating Ideas

Warm Bedroom Interior Decorating Ideas

Warm Bedroom Decorating Ideas

Bedroom Decorating Ideas

Bedroom Interior Decorating Ideas

Bedroom Decorating Ideas

Bedroom Decorating Ideas

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Futuristic Italian kitchen with Retro Shades

Designed by Daniele Lago, the futuristic, elegant and stylish kitchen 36E8 is an odd mixture of styles as its name indicates. The kitchen is designed in typical Italian style with plenty of bright shades, lots of glossy finishes and yet very modern and minimalistic approach towards the shelves and the space available. Despite its bright appearance, it is highly organized, can be altered to suit various needs and from what we understand, you can have your picnic lunch in it by just changing the flooring for the occasion! Spacious and sleek, 36E8 is a pretty modern and unique kitchen.

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Outdoor Rooms Help Expand Homes

If the economic downturn means a new house isn’t realistic right now, consider adding an outdoor room to your home. You can extend your kitchen, expand the family room, create a meditation place — the possibilities are endless. The best part? There’s no need to take out a second mortgage, because you can do it yourself.

“Most do-it-yourselfers will find that a brick patio is less expensive than a comparably sized wood deck — and there is much less upkeep,” said Laura Schwind, a registered landscape architect for Pine Hall Brick, America’s largest manufacturer of genuine clay pavers.

To get started, place your outdoor furniture, the grill, kids’ toys, and other objects that you will want on the patio in the area of the proposed patio. Outline the area with a garden hose to see how much square footage you will need. You’ll also need to choose a pattern, keeping in mind that some patterns require more cuts than others.

To install, dig approximately eight inches down and six inches out beyond the area you will pave. Slope the soil about one-quarter inch per foot to allow for proper drainage.

Next, tamp the soil down with a hand tamper or a vibrating plate compactor.

Put down four inches — eight inches for driveways — of crusher run gravel, and compact it well with the tamper or plate compactor. Lay down two lengths of one-inch PVC pipe, parallel to each other and several feet apart. Cover the pipes with concrete sand, which is course and jagged, then use a board across the top of the pipes to screed the sand level.

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T-Shirt Art.

Cold , wet and windy today, I was quite happy to be working all day at school as working outside at home would not have been a lot of fun. My poor class spent the day doing a practice maths SATs paper in the morning and then going through the questions in the afternoon before 45mins of golden time. Having started to move towards Topic based teaching, seem to remember that when I first started teaching, everything is now on hold because if the Conservatives win the election they want to return to even more formal strictly segregated subject teaching. None of this namby pamby making education fun and exciting.New Acer leaves emerging like weird claws.

I got quite excited when I was down in the reception class earlier in the week because they were using fabric dyes to paint batik (using flour and water paste instead of wax) banners. I took the opportunity to bring in a couple of white t-shirts to have a little bit of an experiment.
For this experiment I simply flicked dye at a dry t-shirt. I like it a lot but I almost think it is too restrained and maybe could have been a bit more random.

For this one I wet the t-shirt first and then dropped blobs of dye onto it so that they ran together. If I had been able to let it dry flat and maybe not had it so wet, the dye wouldn't have run together so much. I do like it like this though the red does seem to have taken over. Never mind, this will satisfy my Bohemian streak. We are fairly sure that once it is dry the dye will be permanent and I might even run the iron over the t-shirts to make sure before I wash them by hand (don't want a machine load of pink clothes). Previously my t-shirt experiments have been done using extra thick bleach randomly squirted onto the fabric which can produce interesting results especially with black t-shirts as you never know what the base colour is going to be. One t-shirt turned out to be orange under the black.

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It's A Wrap

Can you believe April has come and gone.  So much education in regards to sound economics has taken place this month at The Thrifty Garden/Home.  I have already figured out the household budget for May and have committed it to a spreadsheet.  Having such  .. an on target .. to the penny success with the April budget, I'm going to change grocery shopping gears to be even more thought out.  I can not lower the $ amount of $350 for the month ... but I have made plans to shop only once for May.  This will take a considerable will power on the entire family's part.  Since we got our paycheck a day early and I had the budget done ... I took the opportunity to do the actual shopping yesterday when I had no kids to watch. The pantry shelves, refrigerator .. and freezers are stocked.  I have taken a Sharpie marker and written on many of the items, that have to be rationed (when they can get used) and stored the excess in my basement's storage room (out of sight;)  ... Everyone got a 'warning' that if they used up any of the rations beforehand ... they will be SO SORRY!;)  I'm confident that everyone is on board with the plan.  It was almost comical towards the end of April when we were running out of food items (flour/butter .. etc.) .. and I had to get very creative with meal plans ... but everyone survived without having to chew a foot off;)   I did set aside $50 to supply extra fruit & produce .. sparingly when needed in May.  This has been a GREAT learning process ... and makes me understand why my (Great Depression era) MIL would often re-use teabags ... and my FIL would just put another scoop of coffee grounds in the coffee maker, on top of the morning's used grounds, for a noon time pot of coffee ...  we haven't gone that far YET:)  What's the thriftiest thing your family practices at home?

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Heat players choose SW Ranches, FL for the solitude.

When the Miami Heat aren't driving the crowds wild and giving us great basketball, We imagine they're at home relaxing and enjoying life, but where is home for the Heat?

The Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman is the beat writer for the Miami Heat and he recently wrote an article about Heat player's choosing custom built homes on multi-acre lots in South West Ranches and Parkland as opposed to homes located in the fast paced city of Miami.

According to the article Udonis Haslem a power forward for the Heat chose South West Ranches, Florida for the open space and fast travel to and from the court.

ARTICLE: Haslem among Heat players picking Broward over Miami

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PARK DESIGN HOUSE Minimalist

Minimalist garden design

How minimalist design for the home garden?
Park home owners increasingly become the status symbol. Mix & match style house with a garden can produce a unique look and increasingly reflects the owner.

At present, the park houses not only as a mere supplement, but it's getting just as important as architecture and interiors. Even for some people has become a symbol of prestige. The better someone's home garden arrangement, reflecting the social class of owners.

Park in your house. Same personal with home design. It is expected that the design reflects not only personal but also supports the home owner activity and the needs of residents of the space. From the head of the family, wife to the kids.

For example, one of the lifestyle trend now is to hold a garden party with a barbeque in the evening or late afternoon. Of course, we will gladly run this program when we garden with good design, especially at night.

If we have children who are active. Obviously need a roomy place to play. Garden elements such as swings and play ground equipment that other children can we match the garden design.

Certainly many aspects that must be taken into account in designing the park. Although we do get help from the landscaper, still we must pay attention to the important aspects in the design of the park, namely: expansion of existing parks, activities shall be accommodated in the park, the harmony of gardens with buildings.

Like architecture, garden design known in a variety of gardens. What is the type of garden? There are various types of parks are generally known. Distinguished by the cultural background and geographical origin of the development of the park. Differences in composition and animating characters that used the park.

There are so many types of garden that a traditional cultural background and geographical. There's Japanese garden, china garden, garden french, American, English, tropical Bali, a tropical Thailand and Japan, there is a growing garden suitable times, such as garden modern, minimalist and dry garden. Each type reflects a strong character and have different effects lover.

That one architectural style developed today are minimalist. This style emerged after World War II. Nowhere on Those days lots of people's houses destroyed by the war so That the government make a home in modular form (Standard and Poor 'in Aceh now), WHO is easy and cheap workmanship but still with the design well. Key features of this building is a simple form, without ornament and emphasis on function space.

Simple and without ornament is suitable to the spirit and lifestyle during this period. Simple and emphasis on function. Unfortunately in Indonesia, this minimalist style so expensive because it is not made of modules that are available and must be custom made.

Distinctive minimalist building is at least ornament and color who tend to be styled 'industry' is a white, gray and black.

Houses do not have minimalism minimalist garden as well. Mix & match (solid-match) of the various garden-style residential homes can make you look more stylish.

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PARK DESIGN HOUSE Minimalist

Minimalist garden design

How minimalist design for the home garden?
Park home owners increasingly become the status symbol. Mix & match style house with a garden can produce a unique look and increasingly reflects the owner.

At present, the park houses not only as a mere supplement, but it's getting just as important as architecture and interiors. Even for some people has become a symbol of prestige. The better someone's home garden arrangement, reflecting the social class of owners.

Park in your house. Same personal with home design. It is expected that the design reflects not only personal but also supports the home owner activity and the needs of residents of the space. From the head of the family, wife to the kids.

For example, one of the lifestyle trend now is to hold a garden party with a barbeque in the evening or late afternoon. Of course, we will gladly run this program when we garden with good design, especially at night.

If we have children who are active. Obviously need a roomy place to play. Garden elements such as swings and play ground equipment that other children can we match the garden design.

Certainly many aspects that must be taken into account in designing the park. Although we do get help from the landscaper, still we must pay attention to the important aspects in the design of the park, namely: expansion of existing parks, activities shall be accommodated in the park, the harmony of gardens with buildings.

Like architecture, garden design known in a variety of gardens. What is the type of garden? There are various types of parks are generally known. Distinguished by the cultural background and geographical origin of the development of the park. Differences in composition and animating characters that used the park.

There are so many types of garden that a traditional cultural background and geographical. There's Japanese garden, china garden, garden french, American, English, tropical Bali, a tropical Thailand and Japan, there is a growing garden suitable times, such as garden modern, minimalist and dry garden. Each type reflects a strong character and have different effects lover.

That one architectural style developed today are minimalist. This style emerged after World War II. Nowhere on Those days lots of people's houses destroyed by the war so That the government make a home in modular form (Standard and Poor 'in Aceh now), WHO is easy and cheap workmanship but still with the design well. Key features of this building is a simple form, without ornament and emphasis on function space.

Simple and without ornament is suitable to the spirit and lifestyle during this period. Simple and emphasis on function. Unfortunately in Indonesia, this minimalist style so expensive because it is not made of modules that are available and must be custom made.

Distinctive minimalist building is at least ornament and color who tend to be styled 'industry' is a white, gray and black.

Houses do not have minimalism minimalist garden as well. Mix & match (solid-match) of the various garden-style residential homes can make you look more stylish.

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Terrific Marble Dining Table Bases

You can use marble in so many ways in your home in the form of flooring, countertops, walls , furniture, furniture bases and tops etc. Marble dining table bases like other marble accessories are enchanting, sturdy and very elegant. Hand crafted marble bases are unique and natural. As the marble comes in variety of colors so it is not difficult to find the wide array of colors in the marble dining table bases. Also different types of marble are used to make this marble furniture.

If looking for the stylish marble dining table base then there is nothing better than carved marble table base that can have the range of carving from very thick to light and in floral, animal or any other figure.

Marble dining table base is the strongest table base. Depending upon your requirement you can buy any shape and size of the table base. Most these are well polished and has unmatched patterns on it.

Glass is the perfect material to be used on marble dining table base and here you need not to coordinate the colors. Just buy any color of the base as per your room color theme and get the glass table top. Now the size and shape of the table top will make the difference in the number and size of table bases. You can create any style of marble dining table from antique, contemporary to traditional and rustic.

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A lovely spring day

Much cooler than normal, we had another fabulous spring day here in the Carolinas. I was whining about our exceptionally cold and rainy winter weather through late February, but March and April have been quite nice. 

We've had only a few hot spells, along with lower than normal temperatures.  Now, if rainfall amounts get back up to 'normal' - we're still three inches short for the year - that would be great!

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Design Xil Bathroom Furniture from Karol with Uncommon

Design Xil Bathroom Furniture modern from Karol with Uncommon

Design Xil Bathroom Furniture modern

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7 Home Decoration Secrets

We always want our homes to be perfect. That is understandable since our home is our abode, our personal sanctuary, the place we look forward to go to after a whole day of stressful work. This is why, one of the most important things a homeowner has to do is to decorate his or her home in such a way that it will be a nice and relaxing escape. This article reveals top 10 home decoration secrets that you surely would want to know.

1. Visualizing is the key

Do not simply make an exact replica of the living room you found on the home interior magazine. Visualize on your own how you want your home to look like, how you want home decors like your wall plaques and paintings to be hung on the wall. Visualization of each room will make it easier for you to do your planning and decoration.

2. Start with a focal point

Any veteran interior designer knows how important it is to start with a focal point in any room so that other home décor items will flow easily around it. It is always a great idea to select an item that gives a big impact like the fireplace, a piano or a sofa.

3. Colors have psychological effect

Colors are important design elements not only because it determines the ambience and feel of the room, and gives the illusion of space but also because they have psychological effects on people.

For example, blue, which is the least appetizing color is not a good shade to paint in your dining area or kitchen. Meanwhile, light and pastel colors, which can relax the mind, are a good idea for the living room. Make sure that the colors you choose complement well with each other.

4. A theme makes it easier to achieve unity and harmony

A décor theme not only makes home decoration a lot easier but is also important because it reflects the homeowner’s personal taste and style. Your theme can be classic, modern, nautical, tropical, European, Asian or whatever you can think of.

Buy furniture and home accessories that match the theme that you have chosen. For example, if the theme of your home is contemporary, modern metal wall plaques would be a great addition while if you have a coastal theme, you might as well go for nautical wall art.

5. Clutter can ruin even the nicest home decoration

Get rid of everything that you do not need or hardly ever use and neatly store them in the storage room. Even if you have the most expensive or most gorgeous home decor, all these are useless if your room is filled with clutter.

6. Lighting is just as important as furniture

Lighting is important because of two things. First, it illuminates the room and allows people to do the things they need to do. Second, it creates an ambience and feel of the room. Because of this, you need to choose the proper kind of lighting, which will make you achieve both objectives. Lamp and fluorescent are great for general and task lighting while candles and smaller lamps are ideal for accent lighting.

7. Strive to achieve a balance between form and function

Form is just as important as function and because of that, it is necessary to achieve a balance between the two when buying furniture or decorating your home. To put it simply, you must be able to decorate your home in such a way that it will be both practical and beautiful

We all know that home decoration is not as easy as we want it to be. However, it is also true that we do not need a doctorate degree on interior decoration to get the job done right. With a dash of creativity, resourcefulness and patience, we can have a home that looks like one of those featured in interior designing magazines.

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Kitchen Design Italian Company Futura Cucine

Kitchen Famous Italian Company Futura Cucine, have design kitchen ideas for decorate and remodeled our kitchen. A kitchen is a place where people spend time cooking and relaxing and many times where the family comes together. Black appliances contrast beautifully with white cabinets and a white island in this modern kitchen Futura Cucine.

Kitchen Design by Italian Company Futura Cucine

Black dishes and accessories always look fabulous on a white table in one of these black and white kitchens. Scandinavian design uses many of black kitchen cabinets as well, but the rest of the kitchen is very light with a great deal of white and a lot of lighting. Sometimes the black kitchen cabinets have glass fronts and are lit on the inside, which will really brighten up a kitchen. A warm wood floor can make a kitchen space more welcoming, more information about best pictures kitchen designs colors with black appliances Kitchen Design by Italian Company Futura Cucine.

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Home Interior Design With Wood

Home interior design with wood materials. Minimalist design in the house

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Home Interior Design With Wood

Home interior design with wood materials. Minimalist design in the house

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Rain, Rain, Rain.

Today was a lie-in day but I was still up reasonably early and got in an hour's work in the garden before the rain settled in for the day. I rebuilt the stonework wall at the end of the grass bed and was able to tidy stuff up so that soon I can start building the steps. Both boys have had a try but the job has sat uncompleted for a long time and has been getting on my nerves, especially after all the years of hard work to make the scree garden. An ornamental tree at school.

Teaching in the afternoon and then back home again in the pouring rain. I have been forced to do some housework and even get the hoover out.

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Luxury Scandinavian Kitchen Design

We know we have been featuring a lot of kitchens of late at Home-Designing. But nice designs like these just keep hitting us.

These scandinavian kitchens from Swedish maker Marbodal make use of the typical pale and cool color palettes that you normally associate with kitchens from this part of Europe. Most kitchens are predominantly white, with the surfaces sporting a matte and soft finish. The company has compiled its features in three different ranges namely Family for people with kids, Style for people who like to display their taste and Gourmet for the ones who love to cook and serve. Also, some of them have a few surprises thrown in. Take a look:

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Potting on ...

Back at the beginning of March I wrote about pricking out my wallflower seedlings and potting them up as plug plants. This is what they looked like then ...





After about a month it was clear that they needed potting on. So I duly transferred them. In theory they should all have gone into 3" pots, but there were over sixty of them, and sixty 3" pots would have taken up more space on the balcony than I had to spare. So about twenty of them went into their own pots while the others went straight into the final containers where they'll grow till they flower next spring.

Would it make a difference? All the gardening books and experts are stern about it : never give a young plant more space than it needs at that moment, or it will just put down roots and "forget" to develop above ground.

But that wasn't the only one of gardening's ten commandments that I managed to break. When I'd transferred almost all of them, I ran out of fresh soil. I wanted to finish, so I just used a container that still had last year's soil in it. How much difference would that make?

Well, here are the results. First the container with fresh soil...





Happy, healthy little plants, coming on well in comparison to their clearly deprived friends in the container with old soil. Most of them haven't made it at all, while the rest remain small and weedy. The self seeded sunflower in there with them doesn't look too happy either ...



But then there are the plants in the 3" pots. Bear in mind that all of these plants were approximately the same size when I moved them a month or so ago.

The "potted" plants are more than twice the size even of those in the first container.

Will it make a difference to the display next year? The jury's going to have to stay out till next April before we can get a verdict on that one. The ones in the container with the poor soil are clearly going to need some tender loving care. Transplanting to new soil is the obvious answer, but as I've got so many I thought I'd try an experiment and see to what extent I can "remediate" with fertiliser. When you garden on a balcony in the middle of a city, disposing of old soil is a huge headache, and if you can re-use it, it's one less problem to worry about. We'll see ...

As for the difference between those in the container with good soil and those in the pots, I suspect that there'll be time for things to even out. Or there's even the possibility that superior root development will give the container plants the edge in the long run. Again, we'll see.

One thing is clear however. Had these been annuals rather than biennials, it would have made a huge difference - and meant a much earlier flowering period. From now on, any annuals that I grow from seed will definitely get "potted".

Meanwhile, the wallflowers from last year have been giving a wonderful display. Next year's plants will be a mix of the same browny-yellow ones as are here, plus a new red variety. I'm in two minds about it - for me, wallflowers are brown and yellow. But yet again, we'll see...

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