This morning we were wandering about and found just by chance a ‘vivero’ here in the middle of Sevilla – most of them are out of town. Am trying to find a proper translation for this. Nog says it’s like a ‘garden centre’ but it isn’t really. It’s more like a huge greenhouse offering plants for sale with a bit of other stuff, like pots and, well, not much else. It’s mostly tons of plants and then a few pot and soil options. Quite basic.
And we got to thinkin’ . . .
First of all, I should say that I lurve having plants in the house. If I could, all my rooms would be filled with plants and flowers. Except … one of our cats tends to eat and/or destroy all plants or fresh cut flowers within reach. Hence, the only plants we presently have in our flat are in our bathroom. Either hanging from the ceiling, off the wall in a planter, or up on a high dividing wall/shelf thingy beside the shower – well out of cat reach. And they are fabulous and, well, I have always wanted more.
So whilst wandering around the ‘vivero’ this morning we also saw these round metal things that can hook onto a balcony – out of cat reach! They hold yer basic flower pot – the metal ring fits under the ridge of the flower pot. And I decided we had to have plants on all our balconies!
Our flat has six balconies, three facing a main street and three facing a side street. I thought the three facing the main street would have green-glazed ceramic flower pots with red geraniums in them – the most typical balcony flower adornment in Seville. And the three facing the side street would have blue-glazed ceramic flower pots with maybe boston ferns in them. Two on each balcony, in the corners.
I’m just not sure about which plants are poisonous for cats – I kinda reckon geraniums might be. Shall have to google about that.
But I was just wondering if there were any particularly ‘green-thumbed’ people out there who might give me some advice about which plants to buy. I’m not particularly stuck on geraniums or boston ferns, they were just a first idea.
One side of the flat faces east and gets the early morning sun, the other side faces north and never gets any direct sunlight at all.
Any suggestions?
casa azahar 
Nah… Geraniums are fine.
Most plants that are poisonous to cats are also “off-putting” to cats anyway, but you are safe with Geraniums. In fact, if you get a variety which have different-smelling leaves (lemon…. stawbery, eg.) they can be lovely, what with the scent of the flowers and the scent of the leaves when brushed against or crushed.
Here is a list of plants poisonous to cats: http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanagement101/a/poisonplants.htm
http://www.semilonghaircats.co.uk/info/plants.htm
http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/cats/health/plant.html (this one lists geranium but we have had geraniums and, as I say, they are rather off-putting to cats and they wouldn’t eat it anyway).
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I might point out that that last list has a number of plants on it which I currently have in my home (have done for years) and Benjamin doesn’t have any particular interest in them.
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“They are rather off-putting to cats and they wouldn’t eat it anyway”
Yeah well, you haven’t met Azar . . . honestly, that guy eats almost everything GREEN. Have I told you about his passion for asparagus?
az
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We went back to the vivero this morning and it turns out that I had to rethink what plants were going to go where. I was told the boston ferns would do best facing north on the shady side of the building and that a flowering plant will do better facing east where it gets the morning sun.
The woman at the vivero suggested 'gitanilla' as a good flowering plant as it blooms from spring to autumn and it will also cascade down on the outside of the balcony – which was really what we were looking for.
So we bought one ring, one blue pot and one gitanilla to try it out – and it looks great.
When I looked up what sort of plant this was it turns out it is actually a Geranium Ivy – here are some photos, two with and one without flowers.
http://www.infojardin.com/fichas/perennes-anuales/pelargonium-peltatum-gitanilla-geranio-hiedra.htm
http://www.botanical-online.com/florpelargonium.htm
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Spain/photo363248.htm
The colour we chose was the 'blush white' one shown in the middle photo. We're wondering if a more vibrant colour might look better – it also comes in quite a nice deep red (pink is definitely *not* an option) but I'm not sure how the red would look with the cobalt blue pots. Hmmm.
What do you think?
az
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Well, just to say what I think . . . that blush-white is actually totally gorgeous. And the one plant we bought to try out is blooming all over the place since Saturday and there are tons of little buds just waiting to open.
I’m getting a bit silly with it, as I’ve not had plants for ages (except for those in the bathroom, which do great with a once a week watering), let alone flowering ones that seem to need extra care. I’m diligently plucking off the dying blooms and old leaves and even talking to it – what am I going to do once I have half a dozen of them! 🙂
Quite looking forward to that, to be honest, though we’ll have to be careful about fallen leaves on the balcony that might be toxic for the cats.
Anyhow, can’t wait to get the rest of them!
az
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My first 'baby' . . . oh, I can hardly stand it.
http://public.fotki.com/azahar/stuff/flowers.html
It's just so beautiful and new blossoms are opening up every morning.
az
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Second photo added (number 47). Even more blossoms and looking very pretty in the early morning light. This afternoon Nog and I are going to get the rest of them. 🙂
az
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The plant saga continues. Yesterday Nog and I went back to the vivero with our trusty little-old-lady shopping cart and brought home five more ‘gitanillas’ for the sunny side of the apartment, as well as nice blue pots for them. Then we went out in search of those little iron rings to hang the pots from on the balcony and – impossible! We spent all afternoon looking for those fuckers.
This morning we went back (with shopping cart) to the vivero to get the ferns and the rest of the pots – just simple, and much cheaper, clay pots for them. Decided not to have *all ferns* on that shady side of the house, that in the middle balcony we’d put something else, but then couldn’t find anything else we really wanted. So we bought six pots and four ferns – they are kind of like Boston ferns except the leaves are a bit ‘crinkly and curly’ – anyone know what these are called?
After that we went off once again in search of the metal rings . . . and it’s crazy! They cannot be found anywhere it seems. We went to I-don’t-know-how-many florists, ceramic shops that stock flower pots, hardware shops – and nuthin. Though I think our neighbourhood hardware shop might be able to provide them if we wait a week or two (or so they said). But of course we wanted them TODAY so spent hours wandering around before finally giving up.
I don’t get it. You see plants on balconies everywhere here hanging from this little clip-on metal rings – WHERE THE HELL DID THEY FIND THEM??? Gaaaaa!
az
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Hi there! I can picture how the plants will all look when they’re hanging up (and look forward to seeing photos when they are). I wish I could put some plants outdoors, but I don’t have any balconies.
How frustrating not to be able to find those iron rings!
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I checked to see if we have any here, and we do, but they’re ridiculously expensive, about $60 each!! Yikes!!
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Yikes indeed! The ones we have found here so far cost between 85 cents and 1.65€ each. The problem is that the ‘hook around thingy’ bit is quite wide on the three sample ones we’ve bought to try out, so the pot ends up hanging at a 30º angle.
And so we are now probably going to wait until our neighbourhood hardware shop gets in the ones with narrower ‘hook around thingys’, which we hope will make the pots sit straighter.
Meanwhile, all the new plants are being kept on the balcony floor and cutting table in the ‘studio/workroom’ safely out of cat’s reach.
az
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I can’t wait till the hook-thingies arrive and we can see what the finished arrangement looks like! I’m really looking forward to it!
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Third photo added (number 48) to the fotki flower link above in post 6. Now that those flowers have faded – a question. It said on one of the plant pages I looked up on Google that to keep the plant flowering I should take off the fading blossoms . . . but how far down should I ‘snip’? Just to where the flowers were or further down at the next ‘joint’ of the plant? Help???
Meanwhile, still waiting for the metal rings to arrive. I’ve repotted the ferns into big clay pots – amazing! They immediately spread out and looked twice as big. I can’t wait to hang them out on the balcony.
az
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Yay! Metal rings finally came in today! So now all plants are out there (just need to buy two more ferns). And once they have ‘adjusted’ to their new homes I’ll take some pics.
Seems I am pruning the gitanillas all wrong . . . not getting many new flowers. 😦
az
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Couple of fern shots (photos 50 & 51) – they still need to grow a bit but I think they look great.
http://public.fotki.com/azahar/stuff/ferns1.html
Still need advice about the gitanillas (geranium ivy). . .
az
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I don’t know if they have (or even what it would be called there) Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas).
There is a building I pass quite frequently and they have it planted in their large planters. It comes in light green and a purple varieties. is fairly think and will hang down but doesn’t get out of control like some ivies.
http://www.fernlea.com/hanggard/vines/potat.htm
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Nice ferns!
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Thanks, echo. And bear in mind that maybe thirty years down the road you might also be taking immense pleasure in ferns. Something to look forward to, no doubt. 😉
az
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Hello!
I’ve just wandered over here from the h2g2 website. I used to live in Ibiza more than 20 years ago. I remember seeing a huge geranium plant there once, someone had just tossed an old pot over a wall and it grew without anyone having to nurture it at all.
I think new blog is lovely!
Buena suerte con el blog he olvidado como se escribe espanol pero mas o menos espera que tengas muchas felicidades with the baby 😉
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Gracias por tu visita, ladye seagull, y por las felicidades. Dónde estás en h2g2?
So maybe the trick is to not bother trimming the geranium ivy at all and just wait for new buds to show up?
Meanwhile, the ferns seem to be getting bigger every day. 8)
az
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Ferns are still looking fabulous. Geranium ivy is growing scraggly and not getting many flowers. 😦
I really don’t know what I’m doing wrong with them.
az
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HELP!!! This morning I noticed that *something* has been eating away at my geranium ivy plant leaves – then I also noticed that several flower buds had holes in them! Which would certainly explain why they haven’t been opening – there was nothing left inside them! And then I saw an eensy weensy green fuzzy caterpillar on one of the leaves 😡
So now what do I do? I heard once that putting a few drops of washing up liquid into the watering can will get rid of pests but not harm the plants. Is this true?
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It´s worth a try. There are ways of getting rid of bugs without using nasty chemicals. People who grow plants organical/ecological usually have good tricks.
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az, I can’t read any of the responses so far because the print is so tiny on my screen. And I can’t figure out how to fix it. Your original posts are fine, though.
So, if I repeat something already mentioned, I apologize.
Have you considered lantanas in place of the geraniums? nOt sure what he latin name is for them.
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/lantana/lantana.html
This is one of my all-time favorite plants. They come n a variety of colors and may even be perennial in your climate. Or instead of the standard red geraniums, you might go with an ivy geranium which will trail over your pots.
For the shady balconies, how about creating dish gardens? You could use a perennial hosta as the base and fill in with trailing licorice, which is silver and has interesting leaves, Inexpensive coleus, impagtients or wax begonias would add color if you want it. Tuberous begonias are also wonderful for shady balconies.
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hi Hyp,
If the print is too small to read just go up to VIEW and then Text Size and make it bigger. Weird. I wonder if this skin makes it hard for others to read too.
In fact, I do have ivy geranium with gorgeous ‘blush white’ flowers. You can see here how they looked when I first got them.
http://public.fotki.com/azahar/stuff/flowers.html
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Meanwhile, have to say that my ferns, growing on the north-side of the apartment, are growing like mad, looking very full and green and lush. Totally gorgeous.
Odd kind of curly-leaf boston ferns – have never seen them before (or even elsewhere, after we bought them).
These days, as it’s been about 40º for ages, we are now into the pre-going-to-bed habit of ‘quick shower, brush teeth and water plants’. And there is something rather pleasing about watering the plants before going to bed. Feels good.
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A bit of googling came up with several pest-control options that included spraying plants with a mixture of 2tbsp per litre washing up liquid/water. Couldn’t find anything that recommended we actually put this in the watering can – though I’m *sure* I’ve heard of this before.
So, have just liberally sprayed all my sad looking geranium ivys and will do it again tomorrow evening.
Thinking that all those pretty little butterflies that kept fluttering around my gorgeous flowering ‘gitanillas’ when we first brought them home were actually laying eggs!
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I’d appreciate a little ‘idea help’ over here on the viveros thread. Yesterday on the a perfect day thread I mentioned what has happened to my wonderful having-plants-on-the-balcony idea … I quote:
Honestly, I was so annoyed that I almost wanted to bill my landlord for the cost of all the rings we bought and can no longer use, but then I got to thinking that maybe I could still use the ones on the livingroom balconies (that have the pretty blue ceramic pots in them)and also the two clay pots on the bathroom balcony.
My idea is to fill them with sand and then stick something in them – not artificial plants but something kind of cute and colourful . . .
For the ones on the bathroom balcony I thought some sort of ‘fishy’ theme, but not sure about what would suit the livingroom ones. Any ideas?
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Are these rings big enough to hold those ice-bucket things that champagne bottles come in when you’re in a restaurant?
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I’m not sure . . .
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Because all I can think of using them for is permanent drink-holders. But that says more about me than anything else.
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To be honest, the ferns could be looking a bit happier up on the top of the bookshelves … mind you, they’ve only been up there half an hour or so.
They are kind of growing ‘straight up’ at the moment; I think they’ll start draping over the sides of the pots and towards the light given a bit of time. Also picked off all the dead and ‘burnt’ fronds so they are looking quite fresh and green.
It’s quite neat having all these plants in the livingroom! And even Azar could never get up to the top bookshelf.
Nice.
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Down growing plants on bookshelves…
Some 25 years ago when I just had moved into my first own house I had a few plants of Yucca elephantipes that I had no idea were to put, so they ended up at the uppermost shelves. After a while they looked very odd, the leaves grew downwards since the shelves were above the windows.
Eventually the ended up in the compost heap.
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The plants, not the windows
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“And even Azar could never get up to the top bookshelf.”
Don’t be too sure about that! I have a seven ft. tall bookshelf in my living room, which I used to think that about. Then Bandit (one of my former girls) disabused me of that notion!
I got a pot of flowers from my office when I’d been ill and put them atop the shelf to keep them out of cat reach. The next morning, I found the flowers in shreds on the floor under the shelf…and Bandit looking very pleased with herself, until I got out the squirt bottle!
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Ah, but you forget that Azar only has three usable legs – his little hockey stick front leg makes leaping up onto high ledges pretty much impossible, let alone leaping down again. When he jumps down from the bed it’s always with a bit of a thud as he tends to keel over when he lands.
Meanwhile, he somehow manages to eat the asparagus fern and the pothus in the bathroom, even though the fern is far too high up for him to reach and I’ve ‘shortened’ the pothus so that even standing on the bidet on his back legs he shouldn’t be able to get at it. Spooky.
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Silly girl. Never underestimate the power of a cat with unattainable goals, or forbidden plants!
LOL
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Well, that was kinda my point. Even way shortened he still manages to nibble on the pothus leaves. 😕
Nog and I suspect that during the night when we’re asleep Azar reverts to human form … almost everyone who has met him has commented on how human his body language and facial expressions are. One of his favourite sitting positions on the sofa is sitting back with his little bendy leg resting on the arm of the sofa and his back legs sticking straight out, like a little man.
He also has a sense of humour and likes playing tricks on us … as I said, spooky!
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You have read about Greebo the Cat…?
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Nope…
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Greebo is Nanny Ogg´s cat (Discworld by Terry Pratchett) In “Witches abroad” he comes under some sort of spell that turns him into a man. Unfortunately he gets some residue of that spell and since then he occasionally turns into a man when he is under some sort of pressure. Like being chased by someone not aprreciating him stealing food…
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Oh, that Greebo! Yest, I remember him well.
I think Azar is something a bit more mysterious – he actually mesmerizes people! They fall under his spell somehow.
He does a very good impression of a cat most of the time though. 🙂
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