Balcony Garden

[mbarrick]

I've recently started a small balcony garden and am looking for plant suggestions. The balcony is recessed and gets about 1-2 hours of direct sun and is otherwise mostly shaded. I'm interested in plants that will survive wintering on the balcony (i.e. perennials). I'd also be interested in edible plants (herbs, vegitables) that can tolerate the low-ish light levels.

Also, if anybody knows about a good book or website on the subject suitable to the Vancouver climate I'd love to know about it.

Comments

[heevoling.livejournal.com]

hasta's are supposed to do well in pots, they thrive in the shady damp places, and these days there is a rather impressive selection of hybrids of various colorations and sizes from which to choose. there are some perennial herbs like rosemary, lavender and thyme that do very well in the Pacific NW, and if you like to cook it's quite fun being able to harvest from your balcony ;) hmm, heather is a good nw patio plant, too. though you're looking to stick with perennials, petunias, primroses and pansies are nice annuals easy to add for dashes of seasonal color, and they love that climate, too.

roses take some work, and in pots can prove something of a high-maintenance plant, but if you are fond of them they can be well worth the effort.

when i did my container gardening out there, i just took walks through neighborhoods and scoped out what kinds of plants seemed to be thriving best. as for books, i don't know how it is in BC but in western WA they took their gardening very seriously and so there were entire sections of bookstores dedicated to Pacific NW garden botanica. i can't think of any specific titles off-hand (those books are still in storage), but just make sure that you go with one specific to container gardening, since there are some useful tricks to know, particularly with respect to proper plant nutrition and pest control.

hope this helps :)

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Just getting the jargon right helps a lot. Searching on "container gardening" got me a lot better results than "balcony gardening".

[saturnina.livejournal.com]

I don't really know about low light conditions, but if you can swing it I highly recommend basil. I used to have a huuge basil plant and it was so handy to just rip some off and throw it in with some pasta sauce (or whatever). Plus growing it is way cheaper than paying for it at the supermarket.

*jealous*

[kitsune-13.livejournal.com]

catnip of course! Must plant catnip!
The straight had a good article about city-gardening in last weeks edition..

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Last time I tried to grow 'nip I had to build a pretty serious (and ugly) cage around it to keep it from being dug up and eaten.

[mediavictim.livejournal.com]

a nice AudreyII might just make those construction workers think twice about doing a poor job that has to be corrected

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Heh. Good idea. lol

[sleeplessknight.livejournal.com]

Go for a rock garden. Simple and easy to maintain. ^_^

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Plus the added bonus of having rocks handy to throw at boom cars and suburban hockey yahoos >;-)

stumbling in...

[bumblefreque.livejournal.com]

i recnetly stumbled on your jounral.

heres what i know...i find teh best book to be reader's digest illustrated guide to gardening in canada. it is a bigg ass book. but jammed full of info. i can tell you that van. is in 'zone 8' so just about anything will go there. shade lovin' perennials include aconite (monkshood) careful though it's poison to eat, african lily, amsonia (bluestar) anemone, baptisia, bregenia, bugbane, day lilies, bleeding hearts, hosta, jacob' ladder, dead nettles, lily of the valley (posionous), lobelia, certain phlox, primrose, lungwort, christmas rose (blooms in winter ~ poisonous), trillium, & speedwell. ferns are awesome in the shade. and i belive ivy thrives too. just make sure to add the proper nutrients to the soil and any any garden center for ideas. :)k