Complete knowledge of balcony flowers

What are balcony flowers

There are many types of balcony flowers with different habits, but most of them are basically resistant to drought, like strong light, are not afraid of wind, and are heat and cold resistant. Except for aquatic plants, flowers planted on the balcony are generally slightly drought-resistant.

For a balcony with abundant light resources, it is an ideal place to place those light-loving flowers; the ventilation conditions of the balcony are better than other cultivation sites, and most of the flowers that can grow normally on the balcony often prefer a well-ventilated environment.

Since the balcony is usually the hottest place in summer and the coldest place in winter in a building, the flowers that can grow normally there must be both heat-resistant and cold-resistant. From the perspective of ease of management, we divide balcony flowers into two types: suitable for planting on open balconies and closed balconies.

How to transform the balcony into a simple greenhouse

East and south facing balconies

If the supporting weight permits, you can first use plastic steel, glass and other materials to tightly seal the three sides of the balcony, leaving one to two openable windows for ventilation in fine weather. The doorway from the living room to the balcony can also be converted into a plastic-steel glass sliding door, which can save space inside and outside.

There are glass on three sides of the balcony, so it is best to install thick velvet curtains that can be pulled open. Pulling the curtains in the evening can greatly reduce indoor heat loss. A simple balcony greenhouse can be heated with a small coal stove, but care should be taken to leave room for the exhaust duct. It is best to use a small air conditioner or electric heater for heating, which is cleaner and more hygienic.

Inside the balcony

A simple flower stand can be built to place potted flowers. In order to make the water used for watering basically consistent with the room temperature, you can also place a small water tank on the balcony to store clean water for watering potted flowers or spraying leaves. Potted flower species that love light and are slightly cold-resistant can be placed near the window, such as camellia, sasanqua, azalea, clivia, cymbidium, pineapple, etc. Species that are not cold-resistant but slightly shade-tolerant can be placed at the back or in a higher place, such as jewel orchid, white orchid, begonia, phalaenopsis, cyclamen, cymbidium, black orchid, and strelitzia. Generally, as long as the room temperature in a simple greenhouse can be maintained at no less than 6℃ to 8℃, most potted flowers can safely survive the winter, except for those that are particularly cold-sensitive, such as poinsettia, croton, hibiscus, spiderwort, arrowroot, and money tree.

At noon on a sunny and warm day, you can open individual windows for ventilation, and close them immediately after 20 minutes to avoid convection of cold air in a small space. When watering, be careful not to leak onto the floor, so as not to affect the hygiene downstairs. Note that when the balcony drainage hole is not draining, it is best to block it with a wet cloth to prevent cold wind from entering and damaging some young potted flowers. For potted flowers placed in a simple greenhouse, you can spray more water and water less often, just keep the soil moist. Generally, no top dressing is needed.

How to Green the Balcony

The decoration of an open balcony generally includes two aspects: one is painting the ceiling, paving floor tiles, inlaying ceramic tiles or glass mosaics on cement railings, and installing ceiling lights or wall lights; the other is greening the balcony. Since the balcony is separated from the land, planting flowers and trees requires another method, namely flower pots or flower beds.

flowerpot

You can choose small or medium-sized clay pots, purple clay pots or glazed ceramic pots and plant them in soil. Place it on the guardrail or windowsill, cover the pot with a wire ring, and then fix it to the balcony with bolts to prevent it from falling off the balcony.

flower bed

You can choose a strip trough made of wood, enamel, ceramic or cement and place it on the inside of the guardrail or on the table top. Use metal fasteners and tighten them with bolts to fix them to the guardrail. Put soil in the trough and plant flowers and trees.

When selecting flower and tree varieties for balcony greening, the first thing to consider is the season, which varies from time to time; the regional and climatic conditions should also be considered. However, it is not advisable to plant flowers and trees with roots that are too deep.

Suitable varieties for planting flowers and trees on the balcony

spring

Forsythia, peach, lilac, peony, spring orchid, tulip, Clivia, bougainvillea, azalea, amaryllis, fuchsia, violet, pansy, etc.

summer

Peony, rose, rose, gardenia, white jasmine, hosta, calla lily, crape myrtle, jasmine, Milan, dieffenbachia, oleander, golden edge flower, pomegranate, canna, platycodon, dianthus, albizzia, begonia, honeysuckle, impatiens, lily, Euphorbia, cactus, hibiscus, rhododendron, etc.

autumn

Dahlia, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, wood whip rose, tuberose, cockscomb, salvia, gladiolus, fir marigold, saffron, etc.

winter

Narcissus, wintersweet, camellia, Schlumbergera, cyclamen, poinsettia, Monstera, asparagus, water bamboo, asparagus fern, kumquat, etc.

Some flowers and trees can be hung along the balcony railings and can also beautify the walls, such as the climbing bird-eye pine, morning glory, soaring trumpet creeper, elegant and graceful ivy in summer, as well as the clear and shiny asparagus and the elegant and natural spider plant, which fill the balcony with infinite vitality and natural interest. Based on the proximity of the upper and lower floors, environmental impact should be taken into consideration when fertilizing and watering, which should reflect the noble taste and modern civilized qualities of the flower grower.

Greening and beautification of balcony

The greening of the balcony is not a pile of various flowers and plants, but a staggered and orderly arrangement. There are generally several forms of balcony layout:

Suspended

One is to hang it on the balcony ceiling and use small containers to plant spider plants, Christmas claws, coleus, etc. to beautify the three-dimensional space.

The second is to hang small containers on the balcony railings, plant vines or spreading plants, and let their branches and leaves hang outside the balcony to beautify the fence and street view.

Wisteria

Set up vertical poles at the four corners of the balcony and place horizontal poles on top to fix them to form a trellis; or set up vertical poles at the outer corners of the balcony and tie poles or ropes between the vertical poles to form something like a fence. The branches and leaves of climbing plants such as grapes, melons and fruits are pulled onto the frame to form a shade screen or hedge.

Wall-mounted

Woody vines such as ivy and trumpet creeper are placed inside and outside the fence to green the fence and nearby walls.

Flower stand

On a smaller balcony, in order to expand the planting area, you can use stepped or other forms of pot racks to arrange potted flowers in three dimensions. You can also build the pot racks outside the balcony to create space outdoors, thereby increasing the green area and beautifying the street view.

Comprehensive

Reasonable combination and comprehensive use of the above forms can also achieve a good beautification effect, and it is also widely used in real life.

How to care for balcony flowers

Since the balcony environment is relatively dry, watering is generally slightly more than that in the open field. Due to different climatic conditions in different places, the frequency of watering should be flexibly controlled according to the actual dryness and wetness of the potting soil and the principle of "watering when dry and watering when wet".

Since most balcony flowers have difficulty getting natural rain and dew, artificial spraying is very important. During the dry season and hot summer, spray the branches and leaves several times a day to increase the air humidity, which is very beneficial for most flowers.

Some flower growers often lay bricks and sprinkle water on the balcony floor. This is because bricks can absorb more water, which evaporates when heated, thereby increasing the air humidity. This is a simple and effective humidification measure.

In order to make the balcony flowers grow healthily, with luxuriant flowers and leaves, it is also necessary to pay attention to regularly replenishing the necessary nutrients. According to the types of fertilizers required by different flowers, apply more decomposed organic fertilizers in the culture soil, and apply compound flower fertilizers several times during the growing season.

To maintain the beautiful shape of the plant, attention should be paid to pinching, removing buds, pruning, etc., and dead flowers and branches should be removed in time to reduce nutrient consumption.

Flowers that are phototropic need to be rotated every few days. The weather in northern China is very hot in midsummer, so reed or straw curtains should be hung around noon to provide shade to prevent exposure to the scorching sun.

In addition, it is best to use sterilized culture soil for potted plants to reduce the occurrence of diseases and pests.