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