Creating a Balcony Greenhouse: A Guide
For those with limited space on sunny balconies, gardening can still be a delightful endeavour. Many plants thrive in windy spots and can be grown in containers, making the most of your balcony's potential.
Coreopsis, Black-Eyed Susan, Gaura, Daylilies, Blanket Flower, Jupiter’s Beard, Sedums, Portulaca, Salvia, and Mock orange are all excellent choices for sunny, drought-tolerant balcony plants. These vibrant bloomers offer colour and resilience, ideal for hot conditions and limited watering.
Coreopsis blooms from spring through summer with yellow, gold, or red flowers, while Black-Eyed Susan thrives in full sun and well-draining soil, offering golden yellow flowers with dark centres. Gaura, with its airy appearance, blooms from late spring through fall with white or pink flowers, making it exceptionally tolerant of heat and wind.
Daylilies, Drought-tolerant once established, bloom late spring to summer with a wide range of colors including yellow, orange, red, and purple. Blanket Flower thrives in hot, dry areas and offers red, orange, and yellow bicolored flowers. Jupiter’s Beard is very heat- and drought-tolerant, doing well in poor soil, and blooms spring to fall.
Sedums, succulent plants, are highly drought-tolerant and ideal for sunny patios. They come in various textures and colours, requiring minimal maintenance, and bloom late in the season. Portulaca thrives in full sun with minimal water, producing vibrant flowers that close at night.
Salvia is a low-maintenance perennial, excellent for sunny spots, drought-tolerant, and flowers for long periods, coming in many species and colours. Mock orange, though more of a shrub, is low-maintenance, fragrant, and does well in sunny locations with moderate drought tolerance.
If you're looking to grow vegetables on your balcony, old compost bags, wooden crates, or woven plastic shopping bags can be used as containers. Jasminum x stephanense grows well in a large container and is covered in fragrant flowers all summer.
Pots and furniture should be secured to prevent them from being blown over by the wind. If you can't attach anything to the walls of your balcony, growing sweet peas or a clematis in a large pot and training the plant up a wigwam can make the most of vertical space. Creating a windbreak can help protect plants from wind on a windy balcony.
When growing vegetables in pots on a balcony, making drainage holes in the bottom of containers is important. With just a few pots, you can grow a variety of edible crops, such as tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, and herbs.
For shady balconies, plants like lettuces, salad leaves, rocket, parsley, chervil, hostas, begonias, heucheras, geraniums, ferns, and shade-loving plants are good choices. Succulents are also suitable for growing in pots on a balcony.
Remember, it's important to consider the weight capacity of the balcony when using stone or terracotta pots and heavy compost. Lightweight plastic or resin containers and lightweight composts are options for container-growing.
Summer bedding plants like coleus, begonias, petunias, osteospermum, and busy Lizzies are great for balcony gardening. With these tips, you can transform your sunny balcony into a thriving garden.
Transforming your sunny balcony into a thriving garden can be achieved with the right plant choices. Consider plants from the home-and-garden genre like Coreopsis, Black-Eyed Susan, Gaura, Daylilies, Blanket Flower, Jupiter’s Beard, Sedums, Portulaca, Salvia, and Mock orange, which are ideal for sunny, drought-tolerant balcony plants.
For those pursuing a home-and-garden lifestylefocus, gardening on windy balconies can still offer enjoyment with these resilient plants that thrive in windy spots and can be grown in containers.
