Balcony plant for a beginner

Hello.

I am looking for a plant or 2 to brighten up my balcony. The balcony is approx 3x1m, faces west and is recessed, so the northern end gets more direct sunlight. I have no idea about plants, so I thought this would be a good place to start my research.

I am looking for a plant with as many of the following qualities as possible:

• Approx 6ft tall, and 2ft wide.
• Can survive outside in UK weather all year round. I have no room to bring plants inside during the winter.
• Requires minimal care. Watering and occasional trimming is fine, but having to trim it weekly and change the soil would be a bit much.
• Evergreen.
• Mustnâ??t smell bad.
• Mustnâ??t attract too many bugs. I donâ??t want to wake up and find it covered in spiders or wasps etc.

Also, I was thinking of getting 3 balcony pots, and would like some suggestions for them too. Again, something that will be easy to look after, and can survive outside all year round. Something nice smelling with flowers would be perfect.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi and welcome to GC. How about a climber for the balcony-one I am thinking of is Clematis Armandii Appleblossom. Lovely big, white, scented flowers in bloom around about now and its also evergreen. If you had a big enough pot it would be happy. Which leads me on to the next point!

Check that your balcony is able to take the weigh of a large pot filled with compost - they can weigh a ton! You might be restricted to positioning said pot on a supporting beam. You also need to think about watering - not only do pots need watering a lot, even in winter but where will the water that runs off go to?

As for the balcony pots, how about annuals? Relatively cheap to buy, low maintenance (apart from dead heading the flowers) and the pots won't get congested by the same plants being in them all the time. In winter/spring you can think about bulbs. Ok, a bit of effort required a couple of times a year in planting new stuff but worth it.

 

Like Sussex Gardener, I was also thinking of a climber for your main pot. But you need to be aware of the damage that wind can do to large plants in pots, even in sheltered gardens. Another suggestion is a variegated ivy - they're as tough as old boots. Whatever you choose, you must make the plant support secure in some way or it will just take off on a windy night!

I'd also agree that annuals would be best for your smaller balcony rail pots. Geraniums/pelargoniums are cheerful and pretty reliable.

 

As an alternative do you want to grow something to eat instead? I can't think of suitable veg off hand, but I have a large garden so I'm the wrong person to come up with a self sufficiency dig-for-victory planing scheme for a couple of balcony tubs!

Or some nice herbs perhaps?

 

Are you looking for a plant that will grow to 6ft x 2ft or one that comes as that size already. The latter will be very expensive. But there are plenty of evergreens that will be more than happy in pots, smaller pots at that (at least to start with!) I'm thinking Osmanthus, Sarcococca, Bay (the last one you can use for cooking too). Having a few plants in pots rather than one looks better too. But I still like the climber idea!

I lived in an apartment with a balcony in London, before escaping to the country and I filled it with planters full of geraniums, herbs and even a jasmine to climb up the railings. I had so much stuff out there, I had no room to sit out!

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I have taken a quick pic of the balcony. Iâ??m not sure if it will help at all, but here you go:



West is to the left, and the end between the 2 vertical bars is where the plant will go. The balcony is about 1m wide, and as you can see, is recessed, so a bit of shelter from the wind.

The square sections of the railing (with mesh in) are going to have frosted Perspex placed over them for a bit more privacy, but should still let plenty of light through.

Iâ??ve had a look at some of the climbers suggested, and they look pretty much what Iâ??m after, but Iâ??m not sure if they would work on my balcony? I like the size and shape of some of the palms in my local B&Q, but they wouldnâ??t survive a winter outside.

I donâ??t mind waiting for it to grow, as long as it will be easily controlled when it reaches the desired size.

The balcony is very well constructed and weight wont be an issue.

Don't the pots stand in trays like house plants? Please forgive my total ignorance on this subject.

 

"Don't the pots stand in trays like house plants? Please forgive my total ignorance on this subject."

Yup, that will work. Trays for Growbags (flat bags filled with compost intended for growing Tomatoes in greenhouse) which are about 1M long and 30-40cm wide I would guess should be suitable, but there will probably be plenty to choose from in your local garden centre / Homebase / eBay store!

The plants won't like standing in water (e.g. the water that drains into the tray after you water them) so the trick would be to put a couple of CM of gravel in the tray, and then the pots / tubs on top. The plants will love having water in the gravel - just not permanently filled to a level above of the gravel - as that will increase the humidity, and some of their roots will wander down into the moist gravel.

 

Those 2 metal posts would do perfectly holding a trellis for the clematis I mentioned to grow up and it would hide that bare brick wall. Climbers also have the advantage of not taking up loads of room horizontally.

You balcony pots mentione before will look fine on the railings, providing you have enough of them. Nothing looks worse than only a few spare pots, dotted along and looking forlorn. Go for the abundance look and you won't be disappointed all summer.

Looking at that balcony, you will need to water a lot as it has a roof - great for staying dry but not so good for plants if you are depending on rain to water them. Just something to remember - if you get into the habit of watering them every evening (and early morning in the summer) they'll be fine though.

 

Thanks again for all the replies - I have a much better idea of what to go for now. I'll get some pics up when it's all done.

 

Hello again.

I've just seen this in a front garden not far from where I live:

http://img9.imageshack.us/my.php?image=plant1f.jpg

I've been told that it's some kind of Yucca. Can anyone confirm this?

This is just the sort of thing I had in mind. It clearly survives outside ok, but is a bit bigger than I was looking for. If anyway can provide, or point me towards more info on this plant I'll be very grateful.

 

I would say its a Cordyline - although they dont start off anywhere near that big! One of mine has reached about that height but then it has taken a couple of years. These are normally a couple of pound from garden centres or even Wilkinsons (if you have one in your town), so are cheap enough to replace when they start to get too big!

 

A couple of years worth of growth ....




One kept in a pot last summer and now transferred to garden ....




Just remembered aswell - they had these in B & Q last weekend for £2 each. About a foot high

 

Yes, Cordyline/New Zealand Cabbage Palm/Torbay Palm/delete as applicable. They also come in red and variegated.

 

Excellent, thanks for that.

A few of questions:

• Do they require any special looking after, or are they pretty beginner proof?
• What size pot would that large one require? I'll put the new one in that size pot to save dicking around later on.
• Would the new 1ft tall one be ok to go outside through the winter, or would you advise keeping in until it's a bit bigger?

Thanks.

 

The second picture grew to that size in a trough style planter, along with a lot of other annual plants, the same as this one (but without the pattern)


The small red cordylines I have are currently growing in this one.

The large one I have only grew in a pot for a few months and then went straight in the ground, so am not sure what size it would take for that one to be honest, but the second photo one was only removed from the pot because it looked too big with the annuals, rather than it being too big for the pot - if that makes sense!