[](www.costafarms.com)Balcony gardens help create a beautiful outdoor space. but they have many benefits beyond adding colour to your environment.
Balcony gardening increases the overall beauty of our buildings, helps to improve air quality, increases our ‘home-grown’ food supply and benefits the physical and mental health of residents.
### Special Considerations When Planning your Balcony Garden:
– **Container Selection:** Fiberglass or plastic pots are the easiest because they are light weight and come in many styles and colours. They also don’t crack like terracotta or ceramic if left outside in the freezing temperatures.
– **Climate:** Factors such as sunlight, shade and wind determine what kind of plants you are able to grow
– **Pollination:** Bees, beetles, moths and butterflies will most likely not be able to pollinate your plants since they usually don’t venture above the second story. This is important to consider if you are growing veggies. If the balcony is breezy, wind pollination might be enough, otherwise hand pollination will be required (tomatoes or peppers).
– **Best Use of Space:** For smaller balconies save floor space by using tiered plant stands, or hang pots and or boxes off railings
### Creating the Perfect Combination:
Whether you plant annuals, perennials or vegetables there is a formula to pairing plants together, just follow these steps:
– There are 3 categories of plants – thriller (or focal point), filler and spiller. For example, this planter design has purple angelonia as the thriller, the green coleus is the filler and the petunia is the spiller.
– Whatever size container your using, make sure the thriller’s mature height grows at least 2/3 the height of the container. This will make the container as a whole look proportionate.
– Keep it simple. Stick to only 2-3 types of plants and repeat them throughout the container. This effortless concept is pleasing to the eye rather than creating a mish mash of many different plants.
### Plant Selection:
Here are some examples of reliable combinations to try for your balcony planting:
**Full Sun Planters**
– *Thrillers:* purple fountain grass, green or red Dracaena spikes, tropical hibiscus, obelisk with tropical mandevilla vine, tomatoes
– *Fillers:* geraniums, blue salvia, zinnias, marigolds, dusty miller, peppers, basil or parsley
– *Spillers:* wave petunias, potato vine, calibrachoa, licorice plant, bidens, thyme or sage
**Part Sun to Shade**
– *Thrillers:* Fuchsia standard, tropical Croton, dragon wing begonia, obelisk with black-eyed Susan vine or Boston fern
– *Fillers*: fibrous or tuberous begonias, coleus, asparagus fern, hosta or coral bells
– *Spillers:* lobelia, German ivy, English ivy, potato vine (part shade) or periwinkle
Until next time,
Andrea
*Post contributed by Andrea Weddum, Landscape Designer*
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*Full Sun Planter image courtesy of [Costa Farms.](http://www.costafarms.com)*
