Psychologists have proven that the greenery of plants calms and relaxes, puts you in a good mood and simply pleases the eye. Happy owners of balconies can afford to enjoy greenery even in winter by making a winter garden. In this article you will learn how to bring this idea to life.
Types of landscaping for balconies
For landscaping balconies you can use different ways planting plants, using them either individually or skillfully combining them with each other, which will give the winter garden individuality and originality.
Horizontal gardening - based on the name, more attention is paid to horizontal lines. Pots with plants are placed on the floor around the perimeter of the balcony. You can use low narrow shelves, racks, flower stands and display plants on them in lines. An excellent option would be to install a strip along the entire window or along the entire perimeter. Pots and balcony flower boxes are hung on it and plants are planted there.
Vertical gardening - the wall should be fully used here. In this case, climbing plants are indispensable. Along the wall you can use long narrow pots or flowerpots placed directly on the floor in which vines are planted. You can install high racks with shelves and put flowers on them. Phytowalls are also used - special modules where flowers are planted in a composition.
Phytowalls are a new fashionable trend in indoor landscaping. And you should give it preference due to its compactness, automatic watering technology and aesthetics. The phytowall is a structure, the most popular dimensions of which are: thickness about 15 cm, height 2 m and length from 1 m. It is equipped with an automatic watering system with a sensor, installation and fastening of lighting is possible. Plants are planted in special pockets with peat without soil. It turns out to be a continuous “green wall”.
Mixed landscaping - partial use of horizontal and vertical landscaping on balconies. This includes the use of linearly placed pots, phytowalls and shelving in the overall composition. The main condition is the harmony of space.
We create conditions for plant growth
To create a winter garden, you need a glazed, warm balcony without drafts, so you need to close all the cracks, insulate the concrete fences with heat-insulating material, and then decorate PVC panels, moisture-resistant plasterboard, etc.
We need to think about heating. You can, for example, install an electric heater and decorate it with a plasterboard screen. If possible, install an air conditioner to control the temperature of the balcony.
Attention! For good development indoor plants require a temperature of 15 to 22 °C.
The concrete floor also needs to be insulated, especially if you are going to use the balcony as a relaxation room. To do this, make a heated floor or lay an insulated covering.
Attention! When choosing a floor covering, take into account the increased humidity of this room caused by the need to spray the plants.
Air humidity greatly affects appearance plants. Due to its excess or deficiency, the decorative properties of leaves in plants are reduced. For a good microclimate, install a humidifier on the balcony (set the humidity regulator to 80%, this will be enough, as this is the average for many types of plants).
An alternative option is to install pallets with expanded clay under the pots. Add water to the trays, it will evaporate, and the necessary humidity will be created around the plants.
Lighting on the balcony needs to be thought out regardless of whether your side is sunny or shady. In winter, daylight hours are short and plants can become stretched due to lack of light. Fluorescent lamps are suitable for lighting the winter garden. Narrow long lamps can be hung along the ceiling, can be mounted on the wall, but not lower than 2/3 of the height of the balcony. On average, 4 fluorescent lamps will be enough for a standard balcony. The main rule for balconies on shady sides is more artificial light! In summer it is too hot on sunny sides, so hang blinds or curtains. Use them during hot hours on sunny days.
Design options for a winter garden arranged on a balcony
It is important to think over the design of the balcony and stylize your winter garden. Here are some options for style solutions, choose your own style or experiment, make your dream of a winter garden come true.
The classical style is characterized by harmony, nobility and aristocratic taste. Beautiful columns with stucco, artistic parquet, marble, elegant carved chairs, noble expensive finishing materials will create a classic style for your winter garden.
Use large plants such as ficus and palm trees in beautiful clay or ceramic pots. Install them in lines in cascades. Hang curtains, they will emphasize aristocracy classic style. Furniture made from antique or elegant forged furniture is suitable.
High-tech style translated from English as “high technology”. This interior is similar to production premises, where communications are exposed. But they are aesthetically designed. This style is distinguished by a lot of space and light.
As practice shows, this is the most successful style for balcony gardening. Select pots of the correct geometric shape, smooth metal surfaces that resemble an intergalactic ship. Use ventilation pipes as stands.
Japanese style implies the mandatory use of the four elements of the universe - water, stone (wood), earth and air. Everything here should evoke peace and nothing should overload your attention. The entire interior encourages reflection and philosophy.
Separate a small area on the floor of the balcony and use decorative stones on it. Arrange characteristic plants - bonsai. Use bamboo to decorate the wall. Set up a water source - a mini-waterfall.
Rustic style (or country) - implies a simple, quiet country house with a beautiful flowering garden. Characteristic here will be all kinds of wickerwork, natural finishing materials.
Create a cozy rustic interior on your balcony using wicker furniture and finishing materials that are close in color and texture to natural ones. You can use clay pots for flowers. Place wicker baskets with flower pots in them. Can be installed decorative fountain- mill. From plants, choose beautifully flowering ones - violets, fuchsia, Kalanchoe.
Wild nature style involves creating a corner similar to nature. This could be Amazonian nature, forest or taiga, or maybe the steppe. This style welcomes a lot of plants and their density. It was as if no human had ever set foot here.
Create the atmosphere of wild Amazonian nature by installing a miniature waterfall on your balcony. Put up a photo wallpaper with a corresponding image or paint the wall yourself. Place plants close to each other so that they create thickets. Try to use a variety of vines and direct them towards neighboring plants. To imitate a forest, use numerous trees for your home (arborvitae, cypress trees, etc.). There are a huge number of them on sale now. For your “steppe” on the balcony, select various cereal plants.
Modern is a style that uses simple forms. Here it is important to emphasize the mobility and functionality of each item. Stucco molding and various carved forms are not at all typical. Contrast is welcomed in everything.
Take advantage of all the simplicity and conciseness of the Art Nouveau style, using smooth plain surfaces, pots geometric shapes. Play with contrasts in color, texture, and size of objects.
Remember! The wall and floor can serve as a backdrop for plants, so try to take the time to arrange them. You can, for example, order and make a background with a 3D effect.
When arranging plants, consider the following rules:
- Install all climbing plants along the walls and use trellises for weaving.
- It is advisable not to place greenery along the window, as this will obstruct passage. If you still want to place some plantings there, be sure to leave an approach to the window so that you can open and close it. You can use railings with pots mounted or hung on them.
- If you have a specific composition in mind, then remember its central part. This should be a dominant (large, beautiful flower, mini pond, artificial stone) around which there are less spectacular, but complementary compositional elements.
- Use all the balcony space. You can install hanging flowerpots with hanging plants.
Don’t forget about spot lighting - it will help to effectively highlight and shade the plants. But don’t get carried away, lighting can highlight on average 1-3 compositional elements. To add a special atmosphere to the garden, use LED lighting.
Sunny side, which plants to choose
Plants for sunny windows are bougainvillea, adenium, cyperus, cacti and succulents, various types milkweed Amaryllaceae: clivia, hippeastrum, nerina, amaryllis - also light-loving. Pelargoniums, balsams, fuchsias, anthuriums, hibiscus will delight with their abundant flowering on the south window. Sunny places love hoya and jasmine. From orchids, choose Cattleya, which loves bright light. Unpretentious chlorophytum and sansevieria are also suitable. Among the large plants are monstera, dieffenbachia, dracaena, palm trees, ficus. To prevent sunburn, hang light tulle on your windows or use blinds during the hottest hours.
The shadow side, which plants to choose
Nephrolepis and adiantum (Venus hair), zamioculcas and unpretentious plants - chlorophytum or sansevieria (mother-in-law's tongue) grow well on the shady sides. Ferns are also shade-loving plants. Aspidistra can grow even far from the window. Deciduous begonias, dieffenbachia, alocasia, and syngonium feel quite good on shady sides. Anthurium and aeschynanthus will grow, but most likely they will not bloom. Palm trees can also be grown on the shady side, for example, bamboo palm, chamedorea, which grow well in the shade. For large plants, hibiscus (Chinese rose) is suitable. Shade-loving climbing plants are ivy, hoya and cissus (indoor grape). If you have artificial lighting for your balcony, then you can try and experiment with even more plants. Don’t forget about fertilizing, they also have a good effect.
Accessories for balcony gardening
To decorate your winter garden, use various additional accessories:
- all kinds of pots;
- pot stands;
- watering devices stuck into the ground;
- signs;
- floor and wall flower stands;
- various supports and fastenings for them;
- mini-reservoirs, mini-fountains;
- tables and chairs.
Having arranged a winter garden on the balcony, do not forget that indoor plants is a living organism that requires proper care and constant attention.
A home garden is an amazing place for a city dweller. At any moment, even in winter, you can find yourself among an abundance of greenery and flowers. At the same time, the green space is not so large that caring for it becomes an overwhelming task, but it is enough for a pleasant relaxation in a chair with your favorite book or music. Even if just yesterday you didn’t know how to make a garden on your balcony, you can create it with your own hands. The key to success is careful planning.
To make the balcony pleasing to the eye and not give up at the first setbacks, pay attention to the important points.
One of them is the availability of free space. This is not the exact floor area, but the possibilities for placing flowers - from hanging pots from the ceiling to attaching flower containers to the edge of the parapet.
Another point is the microclimate in the planted area. This concept includes:
- The degree of illumination of the room and its individual areas.
- Exposure to wind. Constant moderate - contributes to the rapid drying of the soil in pots, which forces you to especially carefully regulate watering. And its strong gusts can damage plants.
- Air temperature in different seasons and times of day. It is important because it determines the choice of plants, the features of caring for them, and the need to use additional equipment.
Neighboring buildings can significantly affect the quality of balcony lighting
Think about how much time you are willing to spend on caring for your flowers every day. Be honest with yourself here. After all, it is you who will have to watch how they die from lack of attention.
Work out the financial issue. Beautiful landscaping is not just plants, but also constantly changing boxes, containers, pots, watering accessories, decor, soil, furniture. Decide on your budget in advance and mark what you can save on. So, friends may well give you a couple of flowers, and unexpected objects can replace traditional pots. You just need to use your imagination.
A wooden pallet is used to grow flowers
What kind of garden to arrange on the balcony
Having assessed your capabilities, analyzed the existing conditions, and correlated them with your desires, make the most important choice - will your garden be winter or summer. These are two radically different options with different schemes landscaping and room arrangement.
Advantages and disadvantages of a summer garden
Its installation on a balcony - both open and glazed - implies placing plants there only in warm time year. During the cold period, indoor flowers are brought into living space, where they continue to maintain a microclimate that is comfortable for them. Street people survive the winter there too perennials having a long period of rest. Annuals after flowering, wilting or before the onset of cold weather are simply disposed of.
Moving indoor plants to the balcony will temporarily free up space in the apartment
Pay attention! The need to move plants into the apartment for the winter imposes restrictions on their number in the garden, size and cultivation of some species.
Seasonality, short duration - characteristic feature summer garden. Its advantages:
- It can easily be changed every year or even several times per season.
- There is no need to carry out labor-intensive and expensive work to improve the premises.
- In summer, the available area can be used to place flowers, and in winter - for storing things.
- Easier to care for plants. No additional equipment is needed to create and maintain the desired microclimate. Maximum focus on natural conditions.
- In the absence of glazing, even a parapet can be effectively used to place flowers.
Decorating the parapet with flowers
A seasonal garden without large financial investments is an excellent option for a beginning gardener.
Winter garden - a home oasis all year round
Unlike a summer garden, a winter garden on a balcony requires plants to be there all year round. For this purpose, it is necessary to create and maintain an appropriate microclimate in the room. Even when it’s frosty outside, the plants should be warm, light, and comfortable.
What does it take to make a balcony a winter garden?
- Firstly, high-quality thermal insulation. It consists of warm glazing of the room, installation of heated floors, thermal insulation of the main surfaces - floor, walls, ceiling.
Insulation of walls using Penoplex insulating boards
- Secondly, waterproofing. It is especially important where water will be constantly used - for cleaning, watering, and air humidification.
- Thirdly, ventilation. You cannot do it in the cold season by opening windows! You will have to use an air conditioner or install a forced ventilation system.
- Fourthly, adjustable lighting. During the cold season, plants often lack light, so phytolamps may be needed. Shading will be provided by blinds, blinds, partitions, and screens.
You can’t do without additional lighting in winter
- Fifthly, maintaining a favorable level of humidity. The traditional way is to place containers of water between the flowers. A convenient alternative is humidifiers. Some models can be set to a water spray interval.
You will also need instruments to monitor temperature and humidity - a thermometer and a hygrometer.
Organizing and maintaining a winter garden requires time, effort, and money. However, the result is worth it. At any time of the year, you will have the opportunity to relax among the greenery, grow your favorite flowers and simply admire the beautiful view from the window of the adjacent room.
A well-kept winter garden will lift your spirits at any time of the year.
What flowers to grow on the balcony
For landscaping, you can use annual and perennial, shade-tolerant and sun-loving plants, flowering plants and delighting with a riot of greenery. Even herbs and some garden crops will come in handy. But specific choice will depend on their growing conditions. The set of plants for winter and summer gardens differs significantly.
What can be grown in a summer garden
The specifics of a seasonal garden involve an abundance of annual plants, diluted indoor flowers and some representatives of perennials for open ground. This allows you not to turn your living space into a branch of a flower shop in the cold season, but in the warm season you can fully enjoy the beauty of flowers.
Another feature of seasonal gardening is the variety of flowering plants. They decorate the balcony and allow you to focus on its color scheme.
As for indoor flowers, it is necessary to take them out into the air gradually, adapting them to the new microclimate. The choice should fall on those species that can withstand it. Thus, delicate ferns grow much better in partial shade than in a hot southern window.
An open balcony with flowers is a great place to relax
Choose from among the popular light-loving plants those that you like.
- Blooming: purslane, geranium, morning glory, begonia, mignonette, petunia, nasturtium, sweet pea. They tolerate heat well, bloom profusely, and are available in many varieties. The only significant drawback is that they lose their aesthetics a little under gusts of wind.
- Mini-garden: lettuce, mint, basil, oregano, lavender, sage, ampel tomatoes, parsley.
- Indoor: coleus, ivy, succulents - cacti, crassula. The hot sun will appeal to bulbs - daffodils, hyacinths, tulips.
Petunias will decorate any balcony
Summer garden on the sunny side
Among plants for shaded areas, some also stand out especially.
- Blooming: some varieties of begonias (Semperflowers, Botanica MIX), anemones, dahlias, daisies. Plants are reluctant to bloom in the shade, so your list will be pretty sparse in this case.
- Mini-garden: rosemary, dill, parsley, lettuce, garlic, ginger. For their growth they need at least 4 full hours of sunshine.
- Indoor: chlorophytum, ferns, tradescantia, hosts.
Chlorophytum looks especially impressive in a hanging flowerpot
Growing herbs is the easiest option for indoor landscaping
Make your choice by creating spectacular compositions
What to plant in the winter garden
The basis of the winter garden on the balcony is indoor plants. For most of them, the optimal temperature is not lower than +15°C, and humidity is 60-80%. Conditions of the tropics and subtropics are natural for many domestic plants. However, the ability to vary the microclimate allows us to go far beyond these limits.
Green mass is usually provided by decorative foliage plants.
- Light-loving: various types of palms (coconut, patching, Washingtonia), dieffenbachia, dracaena, croton, yucca, monstera, ficus, poinsettia.
- Shade-tolerant: aglaonema, zamioculcas, sansevieria, calathea, arrowroot.
They will add bright colors to the interior: crocuses, anthurium, orchids, clivia, spathiphyllum, gardenia, begonia (bush species), violets, hippeastrum, geranium.
Orchids in the winter garden on the balcony
Pay attention! With the possible exception of gardenia and anthurium, other ornamental flowering plants prefer an abundance of diffused light.
Succulents are some of the hardiest. They tolerate interruptions in watering well, high temperatures, low air humidity. The most popular “residents” of apartments and houses are various cacti, aloe, and crassula.
How to arrange flowers on the balcony
Planning is the basis of effective gardening. The placement of all elements also requires preliminary study.
Preparatory stage - drawing up a plan diagram
The balcony garden plan is a schematic representation of all plants, furniture, accessories and engineering systems on a given area.
Drawing up a garden plan using the example of a flower garden
Landscaping plan using the example of a rock garden
A carefully developed plan diagram allows not only to assess the occupancy of the room, but also to determine the level of load on its base slab. A ceramic pot or container with moist soil and a flower can weigh more than 15 kg! Just because you can walk on the balcony does not mean that it will support the weight of all the garden elements. It is not always possible to assess the condition of the slab yourself. If there is any doubt, it is better to invite a specialist.
With the help of a plan, you can create truly beautiful compositions from plants, spending a minimum of time on it, because you will follow a clear pattern.
A large number of flowers is difficult to arrange without prior planning.
Planning will also allow you to avoid unnecessary purchases and think through the irrigation system in advance.
Rules for arranging plants
When placing plants, consider first of all their light needs. In addition, there are many other nuances.
- Tall flowers should not freeze the low light. Place them along the walls around the perimeter of the balcony. If you have few tall plants, then the existing ones can be made the center of the composition, and small pots can be placed on both sides of them.
- Crops that are related in terms of maintenance conditions, leaf color and size can be combined - planted in one container or grouped pots on a stand or shelf. Entire mini-gardens are made from succulents.
- Flowering varieties are great for creating accents and attracting attention. They must be planted separately from each other and placed in the foreground. This is relevant for orchids, hydrangeas, and poinsettias.
- You must be able to reach each “pet” to get it for pruning, replanting, and watering.
- Light-loving annuals are best placed along the parapet.
Floral arrangement option
Bright croton goes well with ficus and blooming hibiscus
Bright pots attract attention
- Pay attention! If you use a beautiful and original planting container, then it should be clearly visible. This will highlight the style of the garden and create a color accent.
Vertical gardening - a solution for a small balcony
It is not easy to arrange a full-fledged garden on small balconies, but you can get as close as possible to the desired result. Landscaping using free vertical space will help you. It can be done in different ways.
A simple idea for vertical gardening
Fabric bags with loops are suitable for hanging on the wall. You can make them yourself from breathable, but dense and durable fabric. A larger option is fabric with sewn pockets for flowers. You can pour soil directly into them or simply insert a pot with a plant.
Base with pockets for planting plants
In stores you can find entire hanging modules made of wood and metal. Their significant disadvantage is not so much the price as the heavy weight. If space allows, it is better to buy vertical modules with legs or even wheels.
Wooden module with boxes for vertical gardening
Support nets (trellises) and strong thick threads can be attached to the wall. Clinging to them, climbing plants form a real living shield. But at the same time, pots or boxes with them will be placed on the floor, occupying part of its area.
Advice. When choosing climbing plants, keep in mind that the shoots of some need to be tied up (grapes, climbing rose), while others can be left to grow freely (hops, ivy, morning glory).
Climbing plants will help shade and decorate the balcony
A common solution is to use flowerpots. Hanging flowers on the balcony look impressive, allowing you to fill the space to the maximum. You just need to worry about the quality of the flowerpot fastening.
Do not hang flower pots that are too heavy
Flower stands will also come to the rescue. Plastic, wooden, forged, with shelves or brackets for pots - they are presented in a wide range. May have two or more tiers.
Three-tier flower stand
Even for a small balcony, you can choose the best landscaping option in terms of price and other criteria.
Finishing materials and garden furniture
To make your balcony garden safe, you need to take care of its high-quality finishing. Do you want to turn it into cozy place for relaxation? Then you will have to purchase the appropriate pieces of furniture.
Finishing walls and floors on the balcony
Finishing materials for a winter or summer garden should be:
- durable;
- resistant to mechanical damage, wear, moisture, and UV rays;
- easy to care for.
For finishing the floor ideal option – ceramic tiles. Linoleum is more budget-friendly, but is more susceptible to mechanical damage.
Ceramic tiles will withstand high humidity and will not be damaged when moving heavy flowerpots
The design of the walls depends on whether you will decorate them with flowers. Support grids, shelves, brackets for flower pots require high-quality fixation on the walls, which must withstand the weight of the structure and the earth with the plant.
Flower pots mounted on the wall
Traditional solutions:
- painting and plastering of the original concrete surface;
- plating moisture-resistant plasterboard along the sheathing with frequent steps;
- block house finishing.
- if the load on the walls is minimal, then a practical and economical solution is decorative PVC panels.
Garden furniture for people and flowers
The main requirements for garden furniture are resistance to moisture and compactness. If the balcony area allows, then you need to install a small table with drawers or a cabinet there. This table is useful for working with plants - replanting, pruning, treating insects. You can store garden tools in drawers or a cabinet.
Pay attention! If there is a serious lack of space in the room, install a folding tabletop. It will be used only when necessary, leaving the space free to move the rest of the time.
Often an old wardrobe or buffet finds a place near the end wall. They can also be used as a storage system or, if the doors are removed, as flower shelves.
To organize a resting place, you can use a small sofa, easy chair, bench, rocking chair, pouf, frameless chair and even a chair.
You can make a bench with your own hands
It is not recommended to place upholstered furniture on the balcony, the upholstery and filling of which often suffer from high humidity in the room. A mobile and comfortable chair with a small table is the best option. If necessary, you can always bring them into the apartment and not embarrass your household.
Compact table and mobile chairs for a small balcony
Balcony garden design ideas
Not only living rooms, but also a balcony with flowers can have a certain style.
You can arrange a cozy “village” garden. It requires lighting elements and wooden objects - in the form of drawers, tables, cabinets, shelves. At night, you can light candles or use battery-powered garden lights.
Landscaping in country style is simple and easy to understand
Decoration of the premises in modern style– these are clear lines, perfect cleanliness and stylish furniture. This could be a weirdly shaped plastic chair, a simple sofa, or a table with chrome elements. Plants should be neatly trimmed.
A mini-garden is suitable for those who love to cook and eat delicious food. Fresh herbs, labeled pots and boxes, and simple furniture will create the right ambiance.
For owners of small open balconies You will like the “Italian” garden. It is distinguished by a riot of colors, thanks to flowering annuals, and implies maximum use of all surfaces for their placement.
A balcony with an abundance of large decorative foliage plants and their climbing species can be called a tropical paradise. They will create an atmosphere: plenty of sunlight, wicker furniture, bamboo accessories.
A Victorian style garden is often called a woman's garden. Delicate colors, English ivy, an abundance of roses (bush and climbing) and a cozy chair with a blanket - this is how he appears most often.
What flowers to plant on the balcony:
9 ideas for a vertical garden:
Winter garden on a loggia with an area of 6 square meters. m:
Flowers on an autumn insulated balcony:
A balcony garden is a space where you can not only enjoy the sight and smell of living plants, but also relax, improve your skills as a designer, florist, and grow ingredients for homemade dishes. But remember that a garden will only be beautiful, cozy and “alive” if you love it.
The busy rhythm of modern life does not always allow you to find time to communicate with nature at the dacha, in the forest or in the park. People try to make up for the lack of positive emotions in a variety of ways, decorating their homes with their favorite plants. It is not at all necessary to set up a greenhouse in your apartment; armed with a wealth of knowledge, you can create a cozy winter garden on the balcony - a blooming oasis of wildlife, a source of useful phytoncides.
The peculiarity of our climate zone is life in conditions of changing seasons, when plants take a break from flowering and fruiting. But for wildlife lovers there is an alternative. In order not to cut down on the living space of a city apartment, it is easy to equip a blooming corner on the balcony, using small secrets of creating an individual interior.
There are many advantages of turning a balcony into a year-round winter garden, but the main benefit is the following:
- Embodiment original ideas to create a “green” corner, he will turn the apartment into a real oasis, created with his own hands;
- A fun activity will enrich you new information from the field of construction and gardening;
- The result of creating a blooming all year round A garden in the apartment will improve the health of all its inhabitants.
Conditions necessary to create a winter garden
The need for glazing and insulation
Most modern solution the problem of a winter garden on a loggia or balcony will be a choice plastic structures two-chamber or three-chamber type for glazing a balcony or loggia. The list of works usually guarantees:
- Reliable sealing of the room;
- Protection against moisture penetration from the outside;
- Tight fit of balcony doors.
As a result, the threat of drafts, which are especially destructive for heat-loving plants, will be eliminated. But the garden on the balcony will have to be insulated with additional heating during the winter. The future greenhouse can be equipped with a warm floor or mounted on the ceiling electric heaters. When using additional insulation, you need to choose moisture-resistant thermal insulation materials.
How to get the right lighting
A tropical oasis will delight you with lush greenery and beautiful flowers all year round if its inhabitants receive a sufficient amount of sunlight. To create comfortable conditions and competently select plant varieties, you will have to figure out which side the garden on the balcony will be oriented on and what the shading will be like.
- On the north side, with uniform dispersion of sunlight, strong heating cannot be achieved. The room will require additional heating with special lamps. If it is not possible to purchase them, you should not choose tropical specimens that need a lot of light and warmth.
- On the balcony on the east side green spaces ideal conditions will be created until midday. But the afternoon sun on a summer day will be nice. To protect your landscaping shop from overheating, blinds come in handy. For maintaining temperature regime will monitor the air conditioner.
- If you are arranging a garden on a west-facing balcony, you need to take into account that the plant family will feel best in the evening. But from the brightness of direct sunlight, the warmth of which remains even at night, green friends need to be shaded.
- The pets of the greenhouse, located on the south side, will be warmed as much as possible by the rays of the sun, but you should not forget about the danger of overheating. To protect against the greenhouse effect, it is necessary to provide shading using one of the available methods.
Guided by modern technologies, to create optimal conditions and help in caring for the winter garden, you can equip it with a split system. Experienced gardeners provide self-watering boxes to maintain a certain air humidity, and exotic lovers equip their balcony oasis with a decorative fountain.
How to place plants on a balcony or loggia
In order for the winter garden to please the eye with many colors and the soul to be in a good mood, it is important to be especially careful when choosing green spaces. The easiest way is to bring a few pots you like from a flower shop and place them on balcony shelves or racks, on the floor. But it is much more interesting to design the free space of the loggia yourself, select original plants, and plunge into the development of your own design, which will be unique.
How to turn a city apartment balcony into a winter garden
When starting to populate the winter garden with plants, you need to know that tall specimens are installed directly on the floor. To accommodate small pots, you will have to equip the room with shelves.
- To plant large cacti and trees, stock up on floor pots or large flowerpots, but there should be no more than three of them;
- Decorate a wide window sill with a long container; if the window sill is narrow, give preference to long hanging pots;
- Identify various types of hanging and climbing plants in flower pots, placing them along the top line of the wall or hanging them from the ceiling.
Alternating tall evergreen trees with small pots will help avoid monotony. beautiful flowers. Free areas of the walls can be decorated with garlands of vines or other creeping specimens, but all green pets should feel equally comfortable in an artificially created climatic zone.
What types of popular plants will decorate your balcony garden with a riot of greenery, surprise you with their variety of shapes and stunning colors:
- The center of the composition can be decorated with ficus, but you will have to limit the growth of the roots of the unpretentious tree;
- From large specimens, choose philodendron; an upright or climbing vine adapts well to apartment conditions;
- For a winter garden in a loggia, a fast-growing tetrastigma flower is suitable, which does not require particularly complex care;
- Choosing a scindapsus climbing vine will help create a favorable psychological environment and harmony in the family;
- The famous beauty monstera is capable of ozonizing the air space by absorbing harmful substances(formaldehyde).
Little secret. To create, use miniature compositions from different types plants, but with the same habitat requirements. Decorate the corners of the balcony with prickly pear, crassula or aloe; these varieties of greenery are destructive to fungus.
Selection of furniture and decor for the winter garden on the balcony
Creating comfort in a balcony corner of wildlife should be given no less attention than selecting its green inhabitants. In conditions limited space you need to remember that the garden on the balcony should have a small weight load, which imposes some restrictions on the choice of furniture. Listen to advice.
- When choosing a material for finishing floors and walls, pay attention to its strength, resistance to mechanical damage, moisture, and ultraviolet radiation. The ideal choice would be ceramic tiles (floor).
- Interior items should be compact and light, preference is wooden structures. The lightness of wicker furniture and rocking chairs will give the room a unique home comfort.
- If there is room for a mini-vegetable garden in the winter garden, you will need a beautiful cabinet or cabinet to store equipment. It will be possible to place containers with seedlings and pots with edible herbs on it.
To decorate your garden interior, use a tabletop fountain, a mini-pond with a miniature tree, or other types of mini-reservoirs. Additional decor (birds, butterflies) is placed on the branches of large trees or between pots with low-growing plants.
If you have a small loggia, stop at the original way glazing of the winter garden. Choosing a panoramic option consisting of solid sheets of glass will create the illusion of a wall of glass. This will visually expand the space of the greenhouse, and turn its creator into the owner of a tropical oasis soaring in the sky.
Photo of design ideas and plant placement
Photo selection of winter garden design on the balcony and options for arrangement of furniture and plants.
In this article we will offer you ideas that will allow you to organize real garden right on the balcony own apartment to create a green corner in the center of the metropolis, to please not only guests of the house, but also passers-by.
Petunias are a recognized leader in “balcony” gardening. Unpretentious, bright, pleasing to the eye in a variety of shades, they bloom almost all summer, growing and hanging in picturesque floral “waterfalls.”
Today, inexpensive, lightweight plastic flowerpots are the most popular.
The side walls of the loggia can also be used to organize home garden. A variety of hanging planters will help create beauty on a previously featureless wall.
You can complement the overall picture of a picturesque home garden with figurines, African masks, Chinese bells and other decorative details.
Experts advise choosing for “balcony” gardens such plants from the liana family as maidenhair or fragrant grapes, honeysuckle honeysuckle and clematis
Of course, such large flowerpots should only be used on fairly spacious balconies, where shrubs will look great. The only problem is that in our climate many perennial plants will not be able to survive the winter, so you will have to take care of this separately
Simple and tasteful - wooden shelves on the side wall of the balcony with colorful pots. Perhaps this garden will not be as noticeable from below as the hanging “waterfalls” of petunias, but it will definitely delight the guests of the house
And in this case, the structure with glass doors serves as a real greenhouse in which you can grow flowers from the very early spring, without fear of frost or strong winds
The hanging garden on this balcony is successfully complemented by an imitation of a lawn, because the more greenery, the better
A green rug like this, which has become the center of an outdoor recreation area, can help imitate a lawn.
On this balcony, brightly flowering plants go well with an equally cheerful tablecloth and chair upholstery. After all, a garden on a balcony is not only flowers, it is also a relaxing atmosphere that should take you from the city to nature
Large flowerpots with legs can accommodate a variety of flowers, which can be grouped by flowering time and shades, creating a composition that will delight owners throughout the warm season. In addition, it is quite possible to plant herbs and spices in such flowerpots, combining business with pleasure
The owners of this garden chose colorful pots and took the trouble to label each flower in order to know exactly where everything grows and how to care for a particular plant.
Over time, fragrant or girlish grapes may well move from the balcony to the roof or window of a neighboring apartment
Appreciate all the advantages of this invention - pots that are securely attached to the balcony railings. True, they are not very spacious, so you can’t plant large flowers here. But traditional geranium - please
Even on such a narrow balcony, you can create a picturesque flower arrangement by simply placing pots along the walls and railings. True, the railings themselves remained unused - apparently, the owners simply did not know about the existence of special pots from our previous idea
In this garden on the balcony there are as many as four levels of flowers, which were placed in a relatively small area
There are two principles for organizing such a “hanging” garden on the balcony - choose flowers of different shades to create a bright palette, or plants in one color scheme, to achieve a more discreet, but no less beautiful result
An example of how original a composition of flowers of the same shade can look. Looking at this balcony on the wall of an old house, you understand that there are a great many shades of red, and they were created by nature itself
And here the owners took the second path and chose petunias of all colors of the rainbow for their “balcony” garden
Selecting furniture for a garden on a balcony is a rather difficult task, because you don’t want to disfigure a beautiful flower arrangement with a banal plastic chair white. The owners of this balcony managed to choose a cute sofa and an armchair, not too bright, but eye-catching colors. And be sure to pay attention to the artificial tree on the wall. Cute, isn't it?
On the balcony it is recommended to grow shrubs such as common juniper, black broom, Thunberg barberry, American maple, Weymouth pine (eastern white), Fortune's euonymus, whole-leaved willow and dwarf lilac
A real canopy, which over time will be completely covered with grape vines, will become a source of shade on this small balcony. And the owners decided to complement the overall picture with classic stucco on the wall and sansevieria (aka “mother-in-law’s tongue” or “pike tail”)
If your house has a snow-white facade, petunias should be chosen in this rich, bright shade, which will look especially attractive against this background
It is appropriate to plant delicate, lovely violets in pots suspended on railings - this way they will be at eye level and will not get lost among other, more lush and climbing plants
Creating a garden on a balcony is not so difficult - often it is enough to simply move pots of flowers from the room to fresh air. However, if you approach the arrangement of a “balcony” garden with imagination, listen to the advice of experts, you can become the owner of a very beautiful and unusual place for relaxation and even take part in a competition for the most beautiful balcony, which is held today in many cities.
Anna Sedykh, rmnt.ru
A village dweller is accustomed to living among greenery, life-giving nature, and everything that beautifies our life and territory. However, it is more difficult for a city dweller in this regard, because it is difficult for him to find a place where he could relax, enjoy greenery and flowers. Where you could be among flowers and other joys of nature. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that any city dweller would like to create something like this in his home. And most the best option will create a winter garden on the balcony, which can not only decorate the apartment, but also lift the spirits of the residents of the room.
What to do if you want a winter garden on your balcony?
So, you have decided to create a winter garden on the balcony. To do this, you will have to fulfill a number of conditions so that you can count on beautiful plants and that they will actually grow and bloom. You will need not only warm floors and ventilation, but to create a flower garden you will need to do some other things:
Stable and reliable sealing. It is imperative to seal all the cracks in the walls and ceiling to prevent wind. Otherwise, you will sign a death sentence for the plant world that you are trying to create;
Flooring must be of high quality. Whatever you choose to create a winter garden on a loggia, you need to remember that tiles or linoleum must be of high quality. It should not be afraid of moisture, and there will be enough of it, because you need to water the plants regularly;
The floor must be warm. Insulation is of great importance here in order to create ideal climatic conditions for tropical plants. Preferably for a harmonic relationship, you need to purchase an air humidifier or air conditioner.
Creating a shadow. Light and shadow depend not only on what types of plants are blooming, but also on where exactly the balcony or loggia is located.
Our company can create a winter garden on your loggia to order. Order services in Moscow, and you will soon be able to have your own tropics on your balcony.