Nora Whitfield 
I assumed seasonal flowers meant a handful of predictable swaps four times a year. Paying attention week to week showed me something far more layered, and a little humbling, about how much I had been missing.
A handful of flowers have become small yearly markers for me, the kind I start watching for weeks before they actually show up. Waiting for them has taught me more patience than I expected.
My reasons for choosing flowers change almost without me noticing as the year turns. Looking back at how differently I shop in each season showed me habits I never realized I had built for myself.
There is a stretch every year when the flower stand looks thin and undecided, caught between what just finished and what has not arrived yet. I used to think something was wrong. Now I know it is just the gap.
Certain summer blooms appear at the stand for what feels like a matter of days before they disappear again until next year. I used to miss them entirely. Now I plan around their short windows on purpose.
I used to think spring flowers meant tulips and not much else. Paying closer attention to the buckets at the stand changed how I understood the season, and taught me a lesson about timing I now try not to repeat.
Six pots take up most of Nora’s balcony floor. She weighs what that space actually cost her against what it gave back, and lands on an honest, not entirely tidy, answer.
From forgotten watering to a wind battered corner and the wrong pot depth, Nora walks through the small, avoidable mistakes that shaped her first real season of balcony growing.
A season of trial and error left Nora with a shorter, more specific list for next year: clear favorites, a surprise winner, and a couple of pots she is retiring for good.
Wind, partial sun, and small pots ruled out more flowers than Nora expected. Here is what actually coped with those limits, and what only looked tough on the seedling tray.