Flowers on the balcony: design, new ideas and photos
As soon as warm weather sets in, the townspeople begin to equip their yards and loggias. In the spring-summer period, for many, the question is relevant - how to decorate the balcony with flowers, given its position relative to the sun. Fragrant flowers on the balcony became fashionable even in medieval Venice, they were grown to fill flavors of apartments that were damp during the winter. Designers offer different ways of organizing the external space, taking into account centuries-old traditions and new ideas.
Content
- 1 How to prepare a balcony for decoration with flowers?
- 2 What is important to consider when landscaping a balcony
- 3 Functional landscaping of the balcony
- 4 The simplest methods for green balcony design
- 5 Video: Which PLANTS are suitable for landscaping BALCONY or LOGGIA
- 6 50 photos of examples of the interior of a balcony with flowers:
How to prepare a balcony for decoration with flowers?
Although the balcony is a limited space with a narrow area, there are still proven ways to fill it with vegetation for the summer almost entirely. The fashion for the design of loggias, apartment greenhouses and winter gardens is quite changeable, but there are many interesting ways that have become classics:
- external boxes with petunias and night violets, fixed along the perimeter;
- ampelous varieties of lushly flowering and houseplants in suspended pots;
- small tubs for “indoor” palm trees, citrus and tall flowers, which are brought into the room for the winter;
- climbing plants and vegetables that take root well as a complement to the design of the balcony with flowers;
- the design of balconies with garden crops of compact sizes - lilies, dahlias, roses, etc.
Although there is always little space in city apartments, even on a loggia or balcony with an area of no more than 2-3 sq.m. there is always a corner for your favorite flowers. To do this, it is enough to create a basis for curly forms on the free end wall. It is better to attach hanging flower pots to the ceiling. In the remaining area add:
- shelves;
- jumpers on the frame;
- light shelves under the flowers.
Tip. In order to have more space for flowers, it is worth removing extra items, old furniture and all sorts of small things stored “just in case” from the balcony. If you are engaged in floral decoration of the balcony, then you need to do this with all seriousness.
Before landscaping the exterior of an apartment, it is important to sensibly assess the additional burden of large pots filled with earth. If this is an old house for demolition, and the balcony itself does not inspire confidence, it is better to limit yourself to flowers fixed on a main or load-bearing wall, as in the photo.
You should not buy unfamiliar plants, if you do not know the features of caring for them, otherwise they can degrade and die. Decide in advance how to decorate the balcony with flowers to get maximum results at minimum cost. If everything is well organized, then next year it’s enough to add a few new flowers.
Attention! When buying rare plants or moody in the care, it is important to assess whether they will have enough light, heat and watering if they have to go on vacation. Today there are many ways to organize automatic watering with your own hands.
When choosing plants for landscaping a balcony, it is important to consider whether it is glazed. Open space will not be protected from sudden cooling, gusty winds and slanting showers. For the open terrace, loggia and balcony, low-growing plants with a strong stalk, dwarf coniferous and ampelous (drooping) forms are used.
Improving the balcony with your own hands, it is important to imagine the end result. For example, you can choose vertical landscaping of one wall or cascading for the entire balcony. It is useful to make a preliminary plan, layout and sketches, what will be the design of the balcony with flowers (as in the photo).
What is important to consider when landscaping a balcony
For lovers of flora and fauna, the main thing is that the loggia or balcony is decorated all year round with evergreens - dwarf bonsai, undersized thuja and juniper. They are sold in potted garden and flower shops and do not require transplanting or planting in open ground.
Those who practically do not go out onto the balcony in winter should plant large blooming annuals every year. Seeds in autumn and winter cost a lot less, the assortment is much wider than in high season - use catalogs.
Indoor plants need good lighting, and to compensate for the shortage of sunlight, they are often taken out to the balcony for the summer. Think of a separate place for each pot so that the flowers do not obscure each other.
Tip. For remote gardening with indoor flowers, the orchid is not suitable, she does not like rearrangements. Use chlorophytum, tradescantia, pelargonium, zamioculcas (dollar tree), violets, mother-in-law's tongue, cyclamen, hibiscus, etc.
Plants requiring shading, it is better to fence off the glass with gauze or translucent curtains - think over their design. Perhaps for the balcony for the summer you will need an additional visor or blinds.
Relaxing surrounded by fragrant flowers is a pleasure. Plan what you will sit on there. If the balcony is very narrow, use folding seats, stackable chairs or stools. They will not interfere with the passage with daily flower care.
Place tall plants along the wall, small ones along the perimeter along the aisles. On a spacious balcony surrounded by flowers, you can put a deck chair or fix a hanging swing.
If the balcony is glazed, make sure that the plants will not interfere with closing the transom and that the pots will not be broken by a sudden opening of a door or a window leaf in a draft.
When deciding how to do gardening on the balcony with your own hands, try to minimize the load on the supports. Do not use forged flower stands, banquets or heavy furniture. For sleeping in the open air, it is better to use an air mattress or a lightweight folding bed so as not to burden the balcony with bulky old furniture.
Attention! The total mass of pots with moistened ground, stands and decor, plants and furniture is an additional 200-500 kg. The lighter and more elegant the design of the balcony, the better you feel there and spend more pleasant time relaxing.
Functional landscaping of the balcony
Climbing plants are a good way to hide defects in the walls of a balcony or loggia. It’s easy to hide tool boxes and other rarely used items behind the mini-garden. A bubbling room fountain promotes relaxation and distracts attention from unaesthetic areas of the living space.
Today it has become fashionable to cultivate not only decorative flowers on the sunny side of the balcony for the sake of design, but also obscure it with useful and edible plants.
Refining the open area of the apartment for the summer, you can get the most out of it:
- use as a greenhouse for growing vegetables (special varieties of cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers are needed);
- sow herbs (dill, anise, parsley, shallots) in boxes;
- grow indoor plants for sale with maximum natural light;
- acquire special varieties of strawberries (garden strawberries) ampelous, curly and remont forms;
- collect indoor lilies, roses, orchids, violets;
- organize a greenhouse for growing dwarf lemons and tangerines.
In the storerooms of the loggia, edible mushrooms can be planted on a mixture of wood dust and husk of seeds. The mushroom culture is ordered by catalog. The main condition is to maintain a certain temperature and high humidity. Light-loving plants do not take root in the northern part of the house, but you can use shade-tolerant exotics if the balcony is insulated.
The simplest methods for green balcony design
To equip a balcony, it is undesirable to buy everything in a row, it is better to use one interesting idea or a general concept. Varieties of plants are selected according to the principle of design intent.
If on the insulated loggia to organize a gym or mini-hall, then large plants have no place. They will interfere with training. It is better to arrange a collection of succulents in the free corners. These are compact plants with fleshy leaves that hold moisture, like cacti. It is cacti and other prickly plants that will be inappropriate here - an awkward movement, and a mass of needles in the body. With lithops and succulents, nothing will happen, even if you touch their weight, they easily propagate vegetatively. Plants are undemanding in care, they are rarely watered, which is convenient for those people who forget about them.
Balcony plants will help emphasize Japanese style in interior design. This is a collection of bonsai, a compact sakura tree in a tub and 2-3 junipers for a "rock garden" skillfully laid by craftsmen around a small makeshift pond, as in the photo. A Japanese-style curtain with hieroglyphs will complement the overall picture.
There are many other ways to decorate your balcony with flowers. For example, simulate a corner of a specific climate zone or a recognizable corner of the planet. And you can arrange a few square meters as a terrace of a Parisian courtyard using adhesive film for glass with views of Paris. Inside, the balcony is designed as a place for romantic dates with indoor roses. Another option is the same collectible cacti for designing an apartment in the Mexican style.
An unexpected play of color is a good design touch. Dark violet, black and green colors (of different types) against the background of lush greenery and white plastic containers are in fashion today. The extravagant decoration of the balcony with flowers is appropriate in an apartment with elegant white decor in any modern style.
Ivy and wild grapes are ideal plants for landscaping and shading the apartment on the 1st floor on the south side of the house. You will only have to land them under the balcony in the courtyard. There are very beautiful varieties that will be quite appropriate for decorating a corner of the house in the English style. The result is an aristocratic interior in the apartment and a courtyard entwined with ivy, as in literary works. Just do not forget to cut off several ivy layers for the winter and put in a vase to get cuttings. Ivy dies in severe frosts, although it is a persistent perennial.
Greening the balcony often suffers because of pets who like to rummage in the ground with plants and gnaw on fresh greenery (due to lack of vitamins). Do not punish them for this - organize a green "lawn" in a small box. The angle where they can outrageous with impunity should be at the bottom. And the flowers are best planted in hanging flower pots, forming a kind of arch on the front side of the balcony. Plants can be hung up and in any order, the main thing that they were inaccessible to a cat.
Specialists have developed an all-season way of decorating a balcony with flowers. This is when different flowers delight with their fragrance all year round. For example, the crocus and primroses are replaced by the balcony forms of tulips and daffodils, and then “flowerbed” annuals bloom violently.In autumn, they are replaced by asters, dahlias and chrysanthemums, and in winter dwarf needles with small cones turn green.
Do not forget about proper lighting, watering and fertilizing plants. Then, with any design of the balcony, they will delight the eye with their healthy appearance, lush greenery and charming colors.
Video: Which PLANTS are suitable for landscaping BALCONY or LOGGIA