Transplanting

I built a second pair of railing planter boxes for the left side of the railing, directly outside the front door.  I originally had several plants in there but they were tall and I wanted to have something shorter for better viewing - I pulled almost everything out.

Here is an overhead view of the 2 beds I built from pallets.  I have placed several succulents, some of whom I have grown indoors, some outdoors.  My challenge now is going to be finding all the names of them since I have never kept the labels and some I have had for years.

I'll move them around a few times and sit with them for a few days before I finally decide where to place them.

I left this one in (name unknown at this stage) - it just bloomed for the first time since I bought it from the Berkeley Botanical Garden.  It's beautiful and it will be the only tall plant in this double-bed of succulents:

I also transplanted the following into some large plastics pots at had left over from my summer vegetables.  It's not ideal since I do not care for the plastic look but it will suffice for the time being:

I haven't found out what this is yet but it has has been blooming for a couple of months - I dead-head the old flowers and it continues to grow taller and bushier.

I coupled it with this prickly cascading plant.

I think this is a Pennisetum setaceum from the Poaceae family, common name Fountain Grass, which has just begun to bloom.  I transplanted it and I hope it establishes and does well.

I am my own client

I am neither a landscaper nor an expert on plants or gardening - I am, however, a lover of all things that root themselves in the ground - always have been.  I have grown indoor plants for years, mostly succulents, but I have never ventured into outdoor blooming plants.  I'm finding more excitement in outdoor gardening than I thought I would, I suppose I always found it a bit intimidating and rather impossible.

For the purposes of this project I am posing as my own client and in this way I can think of the space and the choices to make more objectively.  I am working with a small space in the front of an apartment which is south east facing.  The space is long and narrow with a window/wall on one side and an open railing on the other.

I began in the spring of 2013 by growing a few vegetables - yellow peppers, jalapeño peppers, lemon cucumbers and tomatoes.  I continued to collect succulents and eventually decided to put some together in a large pot I picked up cheaply and added them to the space.

I didn't add anything else for awhile - the vegetables did their thing and the manager of the building had some rather unattractive plastic pots with some impressively large succulents and I left it at that until I decided to build a couple of planter boxes to attach to either side of the railing and I could start to put some colour together that would attract the locals:

Digitalis pupurea, common name Foxglove.  I have found it to be listed sometimes in the family of Scrophulariaceae and sometimes in the family of Plantiginaceae.  When I initially planted this it had a tall, blooming stem which snapped within a few days, since then a couple of more stems have grown and are blooming.

Also, this plant attracted ants and aphids so I will have to find a remedy to this - my partner tells me that ants farm aphids which was news to me!

This is a spring and fall blooming Cuphea hyssopifolia from the Lythraceae family, common name Mexican Heather, that I planted on the inside railing box.  This along with the Foxglove have attracted some local pollinators.

I haven't found out what this is yet.

Perovskia atriplicifolia from the Lamiaceae family, common name Russian Sage has been a big attraction for bees 

and offers a delicious aroma.

I planted this Lobularia maritima, common name Sweet Alyssum from the Brassicaceae family, as ground cover between larger plants in the boxes.