A twirl around the B

Thanks to a friend, I managed to get some shots of the plants around my balcony (my camera is permanently resting, thanks to the healthy chewing of my JR terrier). These photos were taken at night and I made use of an app she had to create different effects.

This is one of my favorite. I recently re-potted the plants around my increasingly cluttered balcony and decided to pot all the bamboos together. What you see here is the base of my latest bamboo addition: the Bambusa oldhamii. It's surrounded by two smaller varieties: the Punctulata Draceana and the Spotted Draceana. They are known locally as Japanese bamboos although they are considered as succulent plants. I picked up my Punctulata from a pot my neighbour threw out. The spotted was my first successful 'accident' from leaves that were meant to be discarded after a floral arrangement for a wedding.

This is my curry plant. We had a scare earlier this year - it was severely infected by aphids and looked on the verge of withering. Thankfully, spraying the white oil helped solve this problem and it's looking really healthy now.

Using a metal screen cheaply available from the Japanese shop, Daiso, I was able to hang my air plants and miniature orchid on the wall. The lizard is a momento from my trip to Barcelona, Spain and really reflects the mesh of colours I hope to eventually achieve on that wall. The spiky ball of tillandsia you see hanging somewhere in the center of the screen regularly blooms and provides a very lovely splash of red to the collection. If you are worried about your ability to maintain a potted plant, you might want to start with an air plant.

I am currently trying my hand at planting potatoes and pumpkin on the balcony. Will be sharing my experiences with herbs next.