8 flyers blooming before the snow

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In autumn, on open balconies, where the summer is the basis for the compositions, as a rule, in October alone empty pots remain. A temperate climate does not pamper us with long warmth, but I want to extend the contemplation of flowering plants and believe that summer is still going on! If you plant cold-resistant, long-blooming annuals on the balcony, you can enjoy their beauty before the advent of a real winter. I will tell you about the most persistent flyers on my balcony in this article.

When I just started gardening the loggia, I introduced a rule for myself - “summer - until the last petunia”, and tried to keep the flowering bushes as long as possible. But, everyone knows, with the advent of autumn, petunias, although they continue to bloom rare single flowers, in general, look already completely unpresentable.

However, the range of annuals is wide. Over time, I managed to pick up plants that remain elegant literally until the snow. Now I annually include these flowers in balcony compositions. And thanks to this, my unglazed loggia in October-November looks almost the same as in June.

1. Begonia ever flowering

The name of this flower speaks for itself, in indoor conditions, this kind of begonia, indeed, can demonstrate continuous flowering. But even on open balconies or in flower beds, the plant remains worthy of its name, pleasing the eye with constantly blossoming buds.

Medium-sized begonia flowers are distinguished by a rich palette of colors in shades of pink and red, and varieties of pure white are also found. In shape, in addition to the classic four-leafed ones, more and more unusual terry hybrids began to appear with numerous flowers similar to tiny roses (hybrid series Queen, Fiona).

Many varieties and hybrids of evergreen begonias are appreciated not only by the abundance of flowers, but also attractive, due to the dark coloring of glossy chocolate-colored leaves.

Although this begonia is a heat-loving African in origin, the plant retains an attractive appearance for a long time, and tolerates cooling to zero degrees well in autumn.

Begonia is a plant with a very long growing season, therefore, to get full bushes by the time of planting in the soil, it is recommended to sow seeds as early as possible - in January-February.

Most varieties of evergreen begonias are quite undersized and compact, making them suitable for balconies and carpet beds. It is better to plant compositions with begonia in sunny places or in light partial shade. Blooming flowers usually crumble themselves, and for the continuous flowering of begonias, as a rule, special efforts are not required.

2. Snapdragon (antirrinum)

Multi-colored "funny dogs" or "little dragons" always had many admirers among flower growers. A rich variety of varieties allows you to use snapdragon in various roles. Tall varieties will become the expressive center of the composition, while small bushy varieties will serve as a frame for the flower garden, and ampel varieties will decorate hanging baskets on the balcony.

These unpretentious flowers can be grown even in a seedlingless way, sowing seeds directly into the ground. But nevertheless, when sowing seeds in March, snapdragon will become a real record holder for the duration of flowering. Dissolving the first buds in June, the "dogs" continue to bloom until late autumn. After all, plants not only steadily tolerate lowering temperatures to zero, but also withstand a small minus (-3 ... -4 degrees).

In the years with lingering warm weather on my balcony, snapdragon continued to bloom flowers literally before the New Year holidays, and only the arrival of real winter managed to stop this restless flower.

But, unfortunately, far from every variety of snapdragons, flowering remains abundant with the advent of autumn. The most magnificent bloom was a hybrid series of antirrinum "Twin" (Twinny) This hybrid is not only notable for its amazing flower shape with fly petals, like in azaleas, but it is also incredibly convenient for growing on the balcony and in small flower gardens, due to its low growth (up to 25 cm) and strong branching.

During flowering, the bushes are voluminous pillows densely strewn with flowers. To maintain a flowering appearance and prolong flowering until late autumn, it is necessary to regularly remove blooming inflorescences.

Read more about the varieties of antirrinum, as well as about the features of its cultivation, read in the article "Snapdragon, or Antirrinum large."

3. Celosia

“Cockscombs” is not the most popular annual in flower beds, it is rarely used in containers on the balcony, however, in my opinion, the flower deserves more distribution.

Firstly, celosia can be called one of the most original flower beds, because its inflorescences resemble an exotic cereal more than an ordinary flower. Different types of celosia differ in the appearance of inflorescences. So u celosion comb they really resemble a wavy cockscomb, cirrus cirrus has panicle inflorescences, while spikelet coelosia they really look more like spikelets.

Stable decorativeness of this flower, first of all, is achieved due to the fact that celosia is a dried flower plant and retains its shape and color even with partial and complete flowering. Due to the fact that the flowers at different stages of blooming are combined into one spike and have different shades, the inflorescences of celosia look multicolor and very unusual.

Beautiful foliage with bright veins (in darkly colored varieties) makes this plant even more colorful. In height you can find both tall varieties a little more than one meter in size, and very tiny, which are ideal for balcony compositions. In this regard, it is worth noting in particular the genetically dwarf series of spikelet celosia. Cosmo (Kosmo) not exceeding 20 centimeters.

Celosia is a heat-loving plant and will not tolerate even small frosts, but at temperatures close to zero, the flower retains a bright and attractive appearance for a long time. In addition, do not forget that inflorescences can be left in a pot or flower garden even after celosia dies from frost, since the dried flower retains the structure and pleasant color of the original panicles for a very long time.

About the features of growing celosia in room conditions, read the article "The best flowers for growing live bouquets on the windowsill."

4. Salvia

The most common in flower beds and on balconies sparkling salvia. This plant is very easy to recognize by catchy bright red flowers collected in long spike-shaped inflorescences. Long decorative plants due to the fact that the flowers in the form of long reeds bloom inside the bright bell-shaped bracts, which for a long time retain their shape.

Due to the fact that salvia, even after flowering, remains very decorative, it serves as an excellent decoration for autumn flower beds. After the leaves of heat-loving salvia are damaged by frost, they can be removed, and the inflorescences will continue to decorate the flower bed or balcony.

Read more about the sparkling salvia in the article "5 best year-olds for flower beds."

The classic salvia of a characteristic scarlet-red color, as a rule, has a rather decent height from 40 to 70 centimeters. Compact hybrid series are more suitable for decorating a balcony, for example, Reddy (Reddy) Its height will not exceed 20 centimeters, and, in addition to red, it can be purple, orange and white.

Another interesting variety of salvia is powdery salvia, or Sage powdery. It does not have persistent bracts, but is characterized by continuous flowering, the abundance of which is not affected by the onset of cold weather. After the sage flowers are showered, the bushes adorn the charming original silver-gray seedlings.

The most interesting varieties of powdery salvia are Rio, Evolution, Victoria blue. Both types of salvia are unpretentious, but they grow quite slowly. Therefore, for early flowering, sowing seeds for seedlings is necessary as early as possible - in mid-February.

5. Pelargonium

Pelargonium does not need a long introduction. This flower remains one of the most popular indoor plants for a record number of years. And with the onset of heat, cups with "room geraniums" are often taken out onto the balcony.

In addition, pelargonium is very easily propagated by cuttings, which quickly gain mass in the open air and turn into compact fluffy bushes that bloom all season.

Thanks to the work of breeders, new varieties of pelargonium have recently become popular, which are easy to grow from seeds, like ordinary annuals. Such hybrid series are characterized by uniformity, compact shape and abundant continuous flowering. Varieties Black velvet scarlet, BullsEye Salmon, Bulls eye scarlet and some others, in addition to expressive flowers, will decorate the balcony with variegated leaves with a dark burgundy center and lime border.

Plants tolerate cooling well and are not afraid even of small frosts to minus 3 degrees. Thanks to this, pelargonium can become one of the best decorations of the autumn balcony, pleasing the eye with bright flowers and attractive foliage.

If you want to make the period of flowering of pelargonium on the balcony longer, on especially cold nights you can bring pots with plants into the room, and again take it out to the balcony during the day.

To get lush bushes of pelargonium by the beginning of summer, seeds are best sown as early as possible - in late winter or early spring. Cuttings are recommended to be planted in balcony boxes in mid-May, they usually root quite easily and quickly and begin to bloom.

Read more about growing pelargonium in the article “Pelargonium is the most hardy of the flowering ones.”

6. Angelonia

This is one of the most popular plants in the USA. But, due to the fact that today its seeds can be found on sale in online stores, a charming flower begins to gain popularity with us.

This bright annual is distinguished by the similarity of the original flowers with pretty angelic faces that adorn the plants all season. By its nature, this plant is a perennial shrub, so its flowering is very extended in time and can continue in the autumn, and the flower, even in windy and rainy weather, maintains a neat and attractive appearance.

Since angelonia is a plant with a long growing season, in order to get flowering already in early summer, sowing of seeds should be carried out as early as possible - in the first days of January or in February. Around the beginning of May, buds appear on the plants, which will continue to open until frost, if you do not forget to remove the flowering spikelets in a timely manner.

By the way, a pleasant bonus when growing this exotic flower will be a fresh apple scent that comes from the leaves, but the flowers themselves have no tangible smell.

On sale, most often, you can find angelium seeds of two hybrid cultivars Serena (up to 30 cm high) andSerenita (20 cm high), which combine plants of purple, purple, pink, white and lilac color. On the flower beds, these flowers are best planted in large groups of the same color.

Branching bushes of angeliums are quite persistent and do not need a garter. Shrubbery can tolerate winter well in an apartment on the south window. In this case, in the spring, angelonia can be propagated by cuttings.

Read more about growing angelonia in the article "The Fairy Sissy Angelonia."

7. Alyssum sea

This is an unpretentious groundcover annual with small fragrant flowers in racemose inflorescences. Branched bushes reach a height of 10-20 cm. Depending on the variety, they have the shape of a hummock, or form a dense cascade. During flowering, alissum is shrouded in a cloud of delicate inflorescences, from which leaves are not visible.

Most often, flowers are pure white or represent a gamut of various shades of lilac: from pale purple to dark purple. On balconies, this flower is widely used as an ampel, decorating the edges of the pots.

Most varieties of allisum have a rich honey aroma, uplifting, but among the variety of varieties of this annual we can find hybrids that are completely odorless. They are suitable for people who cannot tolerate floral aromas. For example, grade Wonderland deep purple with odorless saturated ink flowers.

In terms of winter hardiness, this flower leaves behind most of the flower beds of annuals, as it withstands autumn frosts down to –10 ° С, due to which it is able to decorate the balcony literally before the first snow.

However, it should be borne in mind that the flowering of alissum has a wavy character, and after flowering, it is necessary to cut off faded brushes. In this case, within 1.5-2 weeks it will be possible to expect the appearance of the next flower wave. For early flowering, it is better to sow seeds for seedlings in late March-early April, although the flower has time to bloom when sown directly in the ground in May.

8. Coleus

Coleus is an annual, the main decoration of which is not flowers, but amazing variegated leaves of various colors and color combinations. Since the attractiveness of the plant is not associated with the presence or absence of flowers and is not subject to bad weather at all, coleus can be called a real champion in terms of decorativeness among annuals.

A variety of varieties and hybrids allows you to find both real giants with palm-sized leaves, and low bushy "bumps" or varieties of ampelous form.

An additional charm to the “nettle” is given by the erect inflorescences of small two-lipped flowers towering above the carpet of painted leaves. Most varieties and hybrids of coleus are very easy to grow from seeds that are sown indoors in March. But the greatest variety of colors will give numerous varieties of the so-called "vegetative" coleus.

Hybrids of this group, mainly propagated by cuttings, young plants gain green mass very quickly and lend themselves well to cutting for greater bushiness.

Unstable autumn weather does not have a special effect on the beauty of the painted foliage of decorative "nettles", so he remains the permanent king of flower beds and balconies until the frosts. The main thing is to cut the cuttings from plants in advance and plant them in a room where mother plants can wait out the winter.

How to care for balcony flowers, read the article "10 secrets of a lush flowering balcony."

Dear readers! In this article, I talked about the most persistent flyers that I grow on my balcony. But in fact there are many more! Among other annual ornamental plants, which will also be able to cheer up in the fall for a long time, you can recall marigolds, annual asters, diasia, spilanthes, ageratum, zinnias, annual funny dahlias, lobelia, nasturtium, gatsaniyu, kosmey, decorative cabbage and others.

And what plants adorn your balconies and loggias? Tell us about them in the comments to the article.