Although most ornamental plants display their beautiful flowers from spring to autumn, winter has its own wonderful plants for our garden and balcony. After all, every season is unique and it is a great pleasure to enjoy flowering plants in our garden all year round.

Winter flowers include annuals, bulbous flowers, ornamental shrubs and fruit trees that can withstand the cold and bloom in the winter, adding color and vitality to our garden.

The flowers of winter, apart from their special beauty, also have important facilities in terms of their care, as they need less watering than plants that bloom the rest of the season, depending of course on the prevailing weather conditions.

Especially in rainy seasons, our winter plants are watered naturally and without the need for our intervention. At this time, it is good to stop the automatic watering that we have in our garden or on the balcony, if we have not provided a programmer with a rain sensor.

Also, during the winter, we stop the fertilization of plants and trees, as they enter either a state of dormancy such as deciduous trees, or due to low temperatures are unable to absorb nutrients through the root system.

We can add seaweed extract or a mixture of trace elements that helps to stimulate the plants and at the same time helps to protect them from the cold and the north winds.

The most beautiful flowers of winter Let's get to know the most beautiful plants that bloom in winter to plant in the garden and in a pot on our balcony and enjoy wonderful colorful flowers.

1. Pansies

Pansies are favorite annual spring flowers with low growth of 15 - 25 cm, dense vegetation and early flowering with impressive flowers. They bloom from mid-winter until the end of June. And as for colors, they have a great variety. Yellow, orange, burgundy, purple, white, blue as well as colorful combinations.

A characteristic variety of pansies are those that have a black spot in the center of the flower. We can choose varieties of pansies with smaller flowers, suitable for ground cover that are resistant to adverse weather conditions. We choose for the pansies a sunny place in the garden or on the balcony to give us a rich flowering.

2. Primula

The primrose got its name because it is considered the first flower that blooms in winter. Perennial herbaceous plant that gives its wonderful flowers in the winter from late December to late spring. Its flowers have a wide variety of colors to choose from. White, red, purple, yellow, pink, orange, blue, while we will also find two-tone varieties. For planting the primrose in a garden or in a pot, we choose places protected from the intense sun, as the primrose thrives in a relatively humid environment.

3. Cyclamen

Cyclamen is a perennial flower that begins to bloom in autumn, continues in winter and ends in spring. We can choose cyclamen from different colors. Pink, purple, red and white, or cyclamen with bicolor flowers. Cyclamen loves the cool environment and is planted in shady and semi-shady places to give us its rich flowering, protected from winds and intense sunshine. We can keep cyclamen even indoors, as an indoor plant, in a bright and ventilated area, away from radiators such as fireplaces and radiators.

4. Chrysanthemum

The chrysanthemum or St. Demetrius is another favorite flower that blooms in the autumn season with the characteristic flowers that look like daisies and continues to bloom in winter. We can choose different varieties of chrysanthemums to plant in the garden and in pots in the yard and on the balcony. Low varieties of chrysanthemums with large flowers, ideal for small pots and planters, as well as varieties of tall chrysanthemums, with many small flowers that are best planted in the garden. Chrysanthemums love the sun, so we make sure to plant them in sunny places.

5. Amaryllis

Amaryllis is an autumn planting bulb that gives us at the end of winter impressive flowers that project on long strong stems in many striking colors to match the winter scene. White, red, orange, yellow, as well as two colors. The amaryllis bulb is good to be planted in a warm, sunny part of our garden, sheltered from winds in soil that has good drainage. Plant the bulb in such a way that a small part of the amaryllis bulb is above the soil. We can also place the amaryllis in special glass jars with water, in a bright place inside the house to bloom.

6. Iris

The iris is a perennial herbaceous plant that is propagated by bulbs or rhizomes and gives us a very beautiful flowering in late winter and early spring. The flowers of the iris have a huge variety of colors, blue, white, red, yellow, orange, black and we will find two-tone varieties with excellent color combinations. We plant the irises in the fall in rock gardens, in flower beds and even in pots on the balcony in sunny places and in soil that has good drainage.

7. Yellow jasmine

The yellow jasmine blooms in the heart of winter and offers an impressive spectacle. It has a characteristic creamy vegetation, grows more laterally and reaches 3 meters in width and 2 meters in height. It blooms from December and has a prolonged flowering that lasts until March in southern areas before its new leaves appear. Yellow jasmine is planted in large pots with hanging shoots or selected for fences, walls and low railings. Extremely resistant to low temperatures as well as all types of soils, yellow jasmine thrives in sunny or semi-shady places.

8. Narcissus

Narcissus is another bulbous flower that is planted in autumn and blooms in late winter or spring. Narcissus gives us beautiful flowers in the shape of a trumpet, in a wide variety of colors from white, white-yellow, yellow-orange, reddish to rosé that emerge on thin stems. The narcissus is planted in sunny places in rock gardens, in flower beds of our garden, while it can be maintained as an indoor plant as long as we choose a bright place in our living room away from radiators.

9. Winter flower

The winter blossom is a deciduous ornamental shrub with lanceolate leaves, light green in color that blooms in the cold of winter. It has a relatively slow growth and can reach a height of 3-4 meters. The winter blossom is an excellent choice for our winter garden, as it gives us its fragrant flowers from the end of December until the beginning of March, before the leaves even come out. The flowers of the plant are 2-3 cm in diameter, yellowish in color, reminiscent of a star and have a red heart in their center. We choose places with enough sunshine and relatively fertile soils with good drainage to plant the winter flower.

10. Almond tree

And finally, the beautiful almond tree! Although it is not really an ornamental plant, this favorite fruit tree in the middle of winter shows white-pink flowers of unique beauty on its branches, before even its leaves appear. A flowering almond tree can be one of the most impressive elements of our winter garden. In addition, we can cut its flowering branches to decorate the vases in our winter living room. The almond tree is planted in sunny places and needs soil with good drainage. In general, it thrives in arid climates, and in areas that are not characterized by a high percentage of humidity.

 

We all want to have a wonderful balcony with plants to have an oasis of green in our home to admire every day.

It is important to choose hardy plants as a basis to create our own garden on the balcony that will last all year round and will fill us with joy and optimism. Flowers, shrubs, climbing and aromatic plants, there are so many beautiful plants that we can plant in pots and planters on our balcony.

Of course, many times, the plants we choose are sensitive to the adverse conditions of the balcony, either due to orientation or because it is located on a high floor. As a result, the plants and the flowers spoil and we are upset that we did not manage to make a green and flowery balcony.

For this reason, we need suitable hardy plants for our balcony that can withstand any occasion, from the intense sunshine of summer to the strong north winds of winter. Plants that do not need excessive care, with low requirements for watering, resistant to diseases and insects.

In today's article, we select the most beautiful and hardy plants to plant in a pot and planter on our balcony, along with detailed tips for their care, from choosing a pot and topsoil, to the watering and fertilizer they need. Good luck and good plantings to all the gardeners of the balconies!

What are the most hardy plants for balcony?

1. Durable flowers for the balcony

We start our list with flowering plants that can withstand difficult conditions on the balcony and at the same time give us wonderful flowers in many colors and designs.

We can plant some plants with many flowers that are traditional options, such as geranium, the mastic and the pelargonium. Of course, we can choose other hardy plants that have rich flowering such as polygala as well as various dwarf varieties of roses which give us numerous small flowers and are suitable for planting in pots on our balcony.

2. Durable ornamental shrubs for balcony

We continue our list of hardy plants by proposing ornamental shrubs that impress with their special foliage and have low requirements in care and treatment, ideal for beginners in gardening. These shrubs are ideal for planting in pots and can be used in such a way as to create an impressive plant fence on our balcony. We suggest shrubs with lush glossy foliage with leathery leaves and are resistant to harsh conditions such as angelica, viburnum, oil and iron, while a special choice is the luminosity that stands out for the reddish foliage at the top.

3. Durable climbing plants for balcony

Our list of hardy plants that can be planted on the balcony could not be without climbing plants. After all, many times we want to make a pergola on the balcony, to decorate the railings of the balcony or a frame on the wall, and it is important to choose the appropriate climbing plants that can withstand difficult weather conditions and frost.

In this case we can plant the rychosperm with glossy foliage and small white fragrant flowers resembling jasmine, vines with characteristic green-red leaves, climbing roses with impressive flowering as well as ivy that impresses with the greenish or greenish-yellow foliage consisting of tricolor or pedal leaves.

4. Aromatic plants on the balcony

How about we make a small herb garden with aromatic plants that we will plant in pots and planters on our balcony?

We choose aromatic plants that have beautiful foliage in combination with fast growth and beautiful flowers that musk and at the same time show resistance to adverse conditions. An ideal choice is lavender in a pot with the wonderful leaves and flowers that we use for perfume in our closets and drawers. And for those who are involved in cooking and want aromatic for the kitchen we plant rosemary in a flowerpot, thyme and lemon thyme in a flowerpot, while for those who make pastries of the spoon the arbaroriza another great choice.

What pots and what soil do we use for the plants on the balcony?

We choose the pots we like, clay or plastic, depending on the decoration of our balcony.

We make sure that they have holes in their base or we open them, so that the water leaves. In this way we reduce the risk of rotting on the roots or yellowing and falling of the leaves due to excessive moisture. It is important that our pots and planters have the proper saucer so that our balcony does not get dirty with water, topsoil or fertilizer residue (especially the red-black iron fertilizer) that comes out of the pot.

A suitable time for transplanting plants in a larger pot is in early spring after the winter frosts have passed. We always use high quality topsoil, enriched with nutrients for the best growth of our plants.

What watering plants need on the balcony?

Ornamental plants on the balcony usually need watering twice a week during the spring and autumn. During the summer months, our plants need more water and more frequent watering to cope with the high temperatures. The application of watering to the ornamental plants is best done in the morning during the spring and autumn period, while in the summer months it can be done in the evening in order to be combined with wetting the foliage of the plants when it is hot. The ideal watering of the plants on our balcony is achieved by using a system of plastic pipes with drops, as it is more efficient for the plants, more economical and environmentally beneficial. In addition, it is useful to have an automatic watering system with a programmer to adjust the duration and frequency of watering the plants depending on the season.

Especially for the days we are away from home, such as during the summer holidays, our automatic watering ensures that our plants will not suffer from lack of water.

What fertilizer do plants need on the balcony?

The specific plants we recommend do not have significant nutrient requirements, however fertilization helps them to have vibrant vegetation, green foliage and greater flowering. For the plants we have on the balcony, we use liquid or water-soluble fertilizers that have better solubility.

In this way, the nutrients are better digested and we reduce the possibility of causing burns. We use liquid fertilizer for green plants that contains more nitrogen when we want rich vegetation, and flowering fertilizer that contains more phosphorus and potassium to enjoy more flowers.

There are also general purpose liquid fertilizers or crystalline fertilizers type 20-20-20 that are suitable for all types of ornamental plants.

So we add the appropriate liquid fertilizer 1-2 times a month from spring to autumn, while the additional fertilization in early spring and autumn with iron and especially in the form of chelated iron helps the greening and vitality of our plants.

And a secret for the care of plants on the balcony

It is good to protect the ornamental plants that we have planted on the balcony from various insects such as floury, meligra and granular.

Spray the foliage of the plants every 2 weeks with an improvised homemade recipe by dissolving 1 tablespoon of grated green soap and 1 tablespoon of alcohol in a liter of water. Alternatively, we can get ecological preparations of summer pulp, soaps of potassium salts or natural pyrethrin from agricultural stores.

Source: www.mistikakipou.gr