March 19: Balcony garden update

[neverspent]

Yesterday I spent a little bit of time cleaning up a few pots on my balcony. In December or January, I mulched everything and pulled the perennials up under the eaves to protect them a bit from frost. It looks like they've all done well. The mums and peppermint are starting to put on new green leaves, last year's baby pines survived, and there are buds on the willow trees. My rosemary bush that almost died over the summer also survived, but it's spindly and sad. I had to cut off so many dead branches, it will never be the same beautiful full bush it was before. So I bought a couple of new young plants and put one in the pot with the old rosemary, and a climbing variety in a hanging pot I found. I also finally trimmed and pulled up the dead tomato and cockscomb plants I'd been leaving for the birds. Overall, the balcony still needs a lot of work, but it looks better, which is satisfying.

Elsewhere around my apartment complex, bushes are just starting to bloom, including the azaleas, which will soon be covered in big fuschia blossoms, and the holly, which has tiny waxy white blossoms that I'm fond of.