turning a balcony foresty/wild?

15 years ago

I'm almost certainly going to be moving to an apartment but I want to bring the forest with me as much as I can, or at least the general atmosphere, even if some of the plants are different. The thing is, most of the plants I want, I've never seen in containers so I want a little advice first so I can better decide what to try to grow.

For bigger plants I would really like Indian plum and huckleberry. (Hey, how fast do these grow? Pretty slow I guess, yeah?)

I'd also like a sword fern. Hmm, wonder if I can hang it.

And I'd like some flowers.. especially foxglove, and also vinca and candytuft because they spread and I like things that sorta take over.

I'd also like some sunflowers. The really huge ones.

And anything else that would seem to be unreasonably large for a balcony, but wouldn't really take up all the space.

I also want some stuff that will grow long and hang over the edge.

Basically I want it to be as wild as possible, and kind of do what it wants, so I want plants with a lot of potential to go nuts.

Got any suggestions? Do you think the plants I mentioned will work out?

I'll also be growing a few vegetables, like tomatoes. (gonna try those upside-down containers.)

I'm going to try to get a sunnier balcony, but you never know. It also probably won't be a very tall building because it won't be in the big city.

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Comments (4)

dreamrosered
15 years ago
I have the Balcony restriction myself with bad lighting to boot. I LOVE Bacopia because it hangs all over the place and brings in the bees. Also Love Periwinkle and Creeping Jenny. The creeping Jenny is so wild and it trails to EVERYTHING and will pot down roots in other pots. The yellow flowers all over the place are the icing on the cake. Good luck.
Astroknot
15 years ago
I don't know if you like poppies, but that might be an interesting choice. I grew Papaver Somniferum (opium poppies, "Lauren's Grape") last year and I was so surprised by how tall it grew -- almost up to my shoulders. I grew it in a container.

I'm also thinking of growing sunflowers on my back porch. Never tried it before, I'll see how it goes! Gonna need a big pot. Some amaranth might be a cool accompaniment to the sunflowers, those get huge too. Or maybe hollyhocks?

I like nasturtiums, I'm growing a bunch right now and I'm just going to let them hang off the edge of the deck. They're the "tall" kind, so they get pretty long. I grew them last year too and it worked out well for my balcony.

And for plants that will "go nuts", vines are probably a good idea. Plus they do well in containers because they are never truly allowed to get wild.

You could always buy a mixed packet of wildflower seeds, scatter them in some big pots, and let it surprise you with what it'll grow into.

I'm trying the upside-down planters too! I've also seen strawberries grown like that, and peppers.
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jane__ny
15 years ago
Most of what you mentioned needs full sun. That should be your first consideration. Also, temperature during winter. What type of pots are you planning to use? Ceramic, clay will crack if the pots freeze.

Foxglove likes partial shade and sunflowers, tomatoes like full sun.

I would wait to see what sun exposure your balcony has and plan around that. Some perennials would have to come indoors if you get freezing temps.

Good luck, sounds like fun,

Jane
pink_warm_mama_1
14 years ago
Unless you plan to grow the short sunflowers, please remember that the tall ones, at clean-up time, can be difficult as they are so large and heavy. If you have someone to help you that's great.