Adding new plants

After settling our balcony layout, we were keen to add more plants. 

We had a huge box of seeds that are definitely expired by now! Even so, we sowed them in seed trays to see if something would germinate. My MIL would look at it closely every morning when drinking her tea and would give us the report of the germination. So far the germination rate is 0% 😂 So we have decided to get new plants.

This nursery trip was for the functional plants. We wanted to get plants to screen our balcony from our neighbour's (they will move in a few months). We also wanted some plants for the pot next to the grass patch, to shield it from view. 

Our first purchase were 3 plants of Bamboo. We've never owned bamboo before (unless you count the Chinese bamboo that people have gifted us), but we know about the plant. It is a vigorous grower and is best contained in pots. Its also great for windy locations as it does not break. Ours look a bit straggely, but we hope they will grow out soon.

We also picked up a few plants of Marigold to underplant with the Bamboo.

Bamboo

Bamboo with Marigolds

Next up were the screening plants for the pot near the grass patch. We wanted Tecoma, but the nursery did not have any. They did have an unusual burgundy coloured plant, whose leaves and flowers were both burgundy. Turns out it is a plant called Cranberry Hibiscus. Its very tall and was growing quite wildly in the nursery. We decided to pick those up for our balcony.

Cranberry Hibiscus

Cranberry Hibiscus plants

We planted Marigolds under the Cranberry Hibiscus as well. The last few times we have planted Marigold (in Ahmedabad and Melbourne), they have not lasted beyond the first flush of flowers. They always seem to wither from the bottom up and slowly die. Lets see whether these survive.

Marigold

Bringing in some permanents

As we get better at looking after our plants (and not killing them within 3 days of bringing them home), we bought some plants that are evergreen. Since the wicking bed was empty (yet again), we got plants suitable for that. This time, we tried yet another new nursery called Anand nursery in Gandhinagar. It was the best! Great collection, helpful staff and a complete solution in terms of plants, pots, stones, gardening equipment and fertiliser.

Summer plants and others

A summer collection is incomplete without a Hibiscus. These flowers are bold and the leaves are even bigger! They come in very nice colours, red being the most common. But we decided to go for a yellow one with a red centre.

Hibiscus

To tie our Ahmedabad garden back to our Melbourne one, we included a Kalanchoe in this collection. They are very popular here actually and they come in many different colours. I don't remember seeing so many colours in Melbourne, nor do I remember them flowering so profusely.

Kalanchoe

Another plant common to our Melbourne garden is the Carnation. These Carnations are not as large as the ones we had in Melbourne, but they have more character to them because of the double colour.  They look very dainty.

Carnation

Here's an interesting plant we picked up. It's a Jade plant (Portulacaria Afra Variegata), but double coloured too!

Jade plant

This plant is not much to look at in the picture, but it's dark coloured leaves are lovely. The lady at the nursery said that it flowers too. The pot had two of them, so we put one at both ends.

Alternanthera

And finally, we bought another marigold. This is our second, let's hope it lasts!

Yellow Marigold

We also bought a tree. It's called Tabebuia. It's growing near the society's swimming pool also, but that one has pink flowers. Ours has a white flower with a yellow centre. It's quite leafy and is filling up the balcony space well.

Tabebuia

White flower Tabebuia

We also bought a type of Kamini Jasmine for our terrace. It will be placed just outside our window, so that the fragrance comes in through the window. It has very tiny flowers and quite a subtle orangey smell! I guess when it's covered with flowers, the smell will be more obvious.

Kamini Jasmine

Jasmine flower

We also got a free Mogra Jasmine when I ordered plants from there. This one is not as bushy as the Kamini Jasmine, but flowers are bigger and more aromatic. It struggled a bit in the heat to start with, but picked up with regular watering. I have attached a jute thread to the railing for this one to climb on.

Mogra Jasmine

Winter flowering plants

Winter is upon us, and while it's not as cold as Australia, it is quite cool during the nights. This is a good time for winter annuals. We have managed to kill almost all the plants we have bought so far. So, we decided to buy more to try our hand at killing them :)

Winter flowers

This is also a good time for the Bougainvillea to flower. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) use Bougainvillea liberally in their landscaping. They look great as on the median and growing along canals. I have mostly seen light pink ones, but there are white, orange, yellow and other shades of pink.

In our plan, we have kept  the dark pink one to climb up our bedroom window. We bought a second orange one for the lower balcony. As they grow quite large, we bought big pots for them. We got all this from Jai Bajrang nursery close to our workplace.

Bougainvillea

I forgot to take a picture on the day we bought them, hence the orange Bougainvillea does not have flowers anymore. Sporty goes around wagging his tail and knocked the paper-like flowers off!

We also bought a Marigold. Marigolds look great and  repel mosquitoes and flies. This is not an annual, it will grow throughout the year. In the two weeks we have had it, it has already given us additional flowers. I take it as a good sign that it has settled in and will hopefully last long!

Marigold

The wicking bed that I had built previously was turning out to be the death bed of anything that was growing in it! The Coleus and Peperomia died pretty quickly, only the Money plant survived. Since the soil is always moist, I decided to try out a fern. It lasted for an even shorter time than the others! That is when I finally gave up and decided to move it outdoors. Since the surface area is quite large, I wanted to put a lot of plants in it. We settled in on annuals as they are cheap to buy and will die before summer anyway. This will give us an opportunity to figure out whether the wicking bed works better outdoors.

We got these plants from Umiya nursery in Gandhinagar. The owner here was the most informed that we have met so far. He knew the plants names and could recommend us plants for specific situations. Our annual plant collection consists of three colours of Petunia, two colours of Dianthus, two colours of Chrysanthemums, Pansy and Gazania. They look good together and I hope will grow out a bit more to cover the empty spaces in between.

Purple Petunia

Pink Petunia

Red Petunia

Red Dianthus

Pink Dianthus

Red Chrysanthemum

White Chrysanthemum

Gazania

Pansy