Spring Bulbous Flowers On Balconies And Loggias. When To Plant? How To Care? Photo

Table of contents:

Spring Bulbous Flowers On Balconies And Loggias. When To Plant? How To Care? Photo
Spring Bulbous Flowers On Balconies And Loggias. When To Plant? How To Care? Photo

Video: Spring Bulbous Flowers On Balconies And Loggias. When To Plant? How To Care? Photo

Video: Spring Bulbous Flowers On Balconies And Loggias. When To Plant? How To Care? Photo
Video: Planting A LOT of flowers on my balcony + Beginner Tips | 17m2garden 2024, March
Anonim

Blooming, bright, magnificently decorated with colorful flowers balconies have long become one of the symbols of an unforgettable summer. But in the design of balconies it is not at all necessary to use only classic annuals. And waiting for the summer itself for full gardening is not always the best option. Diverse, delightful, graceful and equally special bulbous flowers will happily settle not only in the garden or room, but also on the balcony at the very beginning of the season.

Growing daffodils in pots on the balcony
Growing daffodils in pots on the balcony

Content:

  • Growing bulbous flowers on balconies and loggias
  • Planting dates for balconies
  • Features of planting bulbous for the balcony
  • Bulbous protection for the winter
  • Early but neat spring start
  • Digging balcony bulbous

Growing bulbous flowers on balconies and loggias

Bulbous flowers on balconies and loggias delight with their flowering from March to July, covering the period when the main summer stars either cannot yet cope with the cold, or are just starting their parade. Touching, elegant, graceful or bright, but always unique, the bulbous ones do an excellent job of decorating balconies and loggias, creating a cozy atmosphere in the first warm spring months. They decorate the spring, allowing enough to admire the long-awaited first flowers and compensate for any vagaries of the weather with their beauty.

Beautiful seasonal accents from bulbs are so dear to us in gardens and interiors that not many people think about the possibility of growing these plants not as a temporary decoration, but as a permanent inhabitant of houses. Meanwhile, cold-resistant bulbs will feel great on balconies and loggias. They are specially protected for the winter, but otherwise growing is not difficult and similar to the strategy for garden plants. For the same plants that cannot winter on the balcony, there will always be a place between petunias and lobelias, they are planted in pots earlier than the summer ones and put on balconies.

For growing on balconies and loggias, you should choose not exotic, but well-known bulbous ones - cold-resistant, hardy and not capricious. Moreover, the choice is not at all limited only to classic indoor plants - crocuses and hyacinths. In the design of balconies, as permanent decorations, you can use the scilla, and spring, and muscari, as well as the main spring favorites - daffodils with tulips.

You can try growing other bulbs if they are cold-resistant. To decorate balconies, you can always use bulbous ones that are dug out for the winter - these are tigridia, eukomis, sprekelia and Co., which will become the star of not only the garden, but also the balcony.

Bulbous plants on balconies and loggias also need annual digging. Regardless of whether they will winter on the balcony or not, after flowering is complete, they are dug up and stored outside the soil, and then planted again.

Growing spring bulbs on the loggia and balcony
Growing spring bulbs on the loggia and balcony

Planting dates for balconies

Those bulbs that cannot winter on the balcony, as well as new acquisitions, exotic plants or plants that you just want to put on the balcony for decoration in spring, are best planted in pots in March-April.

Bulbous plants that you want to grow on the balcony constantly, leaving for the winter, cold-resistant plants that can winter in the open field, are planted at completely different times - in the fall. Moreover, the planting is also oriented, as for garden bulbs - depending on their type. But the landing time is also influenced by another important factor - the characteristics of your balcony. Indeed, on open or closed balconies, bulbous hibernation not only with different shelter, but also must be planted at different times.

The earliest plantings on an open balcony (bulbs) should take root and adapt well before winter arrives. The first planting is best done in early September. Crocuses and chionodox are planted first. Muscari, daffodils, tulips and snowdrops are planted in the second half of the month. But decorative bows and hyacinths are best planted only in early October.

On a closed balcony, planting should be postponed for 1 month, starting the first planting before early or mid-October and ending the last landing in the first decade of November.

Growing hyacinths on the balcony
Growing hyacinths on the balcony

Features of planting bulbous for the balcony

When growing any bulbous on a balcony or loggia, the general rules for planting bulbs in containers are observed. It is best to study agricultural techniques for each type of plant individually, but still there are general principles of planting.

  1. Bulbous crops are always planted to a depth equal to three times the height of the bulb itself (counting from the bottom).
  2. It is not worth planting the bulbs too tightly, since the plant is not driven out for more spectacular flowering, but it is preserved and grown from year to year, and for normal growth and development it is necessary to provide a sufficient amount of free soil. The landing distance is selected in accordance with the preferences and sizes of a particular species. So, for crocuses, the optimal distance is 5-6 cm, and for tulips - 10-12 cm.
  3. The substrate needs to be given more attention. For bulbous pots, light, loose, water-, air-permeable and necessarily nutritious soil is selected. If you compose it yourself, then mix equal parts of sand, peat, turf and leafy soil. It is undesirable to use garden or garden soil, but if you want to save money or you have no choice, then be sure to improve it with the addition of organic fertilizers, sand and peat.
  4. At the bottom of any container or container in which bulbous plants are planted, a drainage layer must be laid. For bulbous plants, its minimum height is 5-6 cm.
  5. After planting, they provide stable, light moisture for rooting.

It is not necessary to plant only one bulb in a container - they can be planted in groups and mixed together to create onion compositions. At the same time, the main principle of planting bulbous plants in pots is observed - arrangement in tiers. Planting is carried out from large plants to small ones, given that such plants are planted at different depths and at different distances between the bulbs.

Tulips and daffodils are placed first, sprinkle them with soil and place the next tier of plants - hyacinths or muscari, and then even smaller primroses bulbs. But when planting different bulbs together, try not to forget about the individual approach and do not thicken the plantings too much, leaving enough room for normal root development and access to nutrients.

Arrangement of flower bulbs in a container
Arrangement of flower bulbs in a container

Bulbous protection for the winter

Plants that you do not plan to leave for the winter on a balcony or loggia are dug up and stored in cool dry conditions after the greens wither, focusing on the preference of each individual species. They are planted again in March-April.

Bulbous ones that you will leave on the balcony need protection. Indeed, even the most winter-hardy crops that can withstand temperatures below 25 degrees of frost will freeze in containers even in light frosts. Winter protection for them must be very thorough. As with the landing, there is a difference in protection for open and closed balconies:

  1. On open, unprotected balconies, containers with bulbs are covered with a reliable air-dry method. For pots, boxes or boxes are selected, installing them inside on foam or planks. All free space is filled with dry filler - sawdust, crumpled paper, shavings. The top of the box is covered and, if necessary, covered with burlap or non-woven materials, bubble wrap or any available materials. The main task is to create a shelter like garden roses, only in a portable version.
  2. On closed, but unheated balconies, bulbous ones continue to water, preventing the soil from drying out completely. The containers do not need the same protection, but you still need to wrap them with insulating materials. All containers are wrapped in several layers of insulating materials, for example, in nonwovens, burlap, old knitted scarves or paper, and must be placed on stands, preventing contact with the floor (on wooden planks, stands on legs or foam).

Early but neat spring start

In order for the bulbs that hibernated on the balcony to bloom earlier and adapt to the changes gradually, the start of the balcony season should fall on the beginning of March or even the end of February. Plants are freed from outerwear, the first layers of shelter, literally, as soon as the air warms up a little and the sun warms up. On days with a drop in temperature, the plants are wrapped again. The coating is removed, as for garden plants, layer by layer, focusing on the weather.

Watering and feeding is not resumed until the first shoots appear. Then the bulbs are watered very carefully, gradually restoring the normal intensity of watering. Top dressing is carried out at first four times, and then twice diluted fertilizers with a standard frequency.

Growing spring bulbs on the loggia and balcony
Growing spring bulbs on the loggia and balcony

Digging balcony bulbous

After the end of flowering, any bulbous plants begin to prepare for the resting phase, necessarily reducing watering and gradually reducing it to minimal procedures up to a complete stop. Top dressing is stopped completely at the peak of flowering. After the foliage turns yellow, the bulbs are dug up, dried in the air for several days and cleaned of roots and dry scales.

Until the next planting, they are stored in a dry, cool and dark place, and then they are planted at the same time - either again in containers or in the garden. Small bulbous plants do not need to be dug up annually, unless they grow in pots with other crops. But it is still safer for any species to carry out an annual excavation.

Recommended: