Make a stunning balcony garden

For many urban dwellers, balconies are the only gardening space available. But those tiny outdoor rooms off your fourth floor apartment can be transformed into intimate, useful and absolutely stunning green spaces.

The most important consideration when setting up a balcony garden are the prevailing micro-climatic conditions in there.

The amount of exposure to the sun, for instance, will not only dictate what you can plant, it will also determine how comfortably you can use the space on a hot afternoon.

Whether you prefer a beautiful collection of container-grown bushes for beauty, a few tomato plants for your kitchen, or your very own herb garden, the balcony often provides the space and just about the right environment to succeed. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

What about exposure to the wind? Is your balcony windy or sheltered? Does it receive enough sunlight or is it perpetually shady? These are some of the questions you will need to answer before you get started.

Plant selection

Whether you prefer a beautiful collection of container-grown bushes for beauty, a few tomato plants for your kitchen, or your very own herb garden, the balcony often provides the space and just about the right environment to succeed. You, however, need to carefully consider a few things before settling on any particular plant.

Light is very critical. All plants need light, hence a dark balcony will reduce your options considerably. The good news, however, is that a good number of shade-loving plants will find the conditions in a shady balcony liveable.

You also need to consider the amount of space you have at your disposal. A balcony is never large enough. Find creative ways to use the available vertical space. Hanging planters are often excellent, especially when planted with vines and selected vegetables. You could also plant in specially designed planting shelves, raised beds and handrail mounted planters.

Fragrances, which often go undetected away from the house, are easily sniffed around the balcony.

Good choices are the fragrant plants like the morning glory and the angel’s trumpet that open widest in the evening when you are most likely to be relaxing on your balcony.

In general, go for tidy, long-blooming plants that grow to size quickly then stay in scale without constant pruning. Avoid plants that have a short season of interest, a season of excess seediness, or are coarse in appearance.

Design elements

All principles of design assume greater importance in the intimate scale of the balcony. Colour clashes you could live with in a border at the back of your yard will dizzy you on the balcony.

Form and texture, too, are accentuated, especially when the plants are brought closer to eye-level in raised beds and hanging baskets.

Go for cool colours such as blue or violet to create a serene environment. These colours will also tend to recede from the viewer and make the space appear larger.

Extensive use of warm colours, on the other hand, will tend to make the space appear smaller since they advance towards the viewer. Don’t hesitate, however, to use them sparingly as accents.

For a balanced design, combine tall upright plants with medium height shrubs and trailing ground covers proportionately.

Arrange the plants so that the tallest ones take the centre positions on the planters followed by the medium-sized plants and then eventually the trailing plants on the edges.

If the plant is against a wall or at a corner, work your way from back to front, starting with the tallest plants at the back and the ground covers at the front.