Balconia

Whenever we discuss what we want to do with our weekends, we joke that we should go to Balconia, the land of our balcony.  Although we’ve been working hard the last few months to bring together the last few remaining pieces in our living room  (repolstering a Danish-designed teak arm chair from the 1960s, and transporting a similarly designed teak coffee table from Hamburg — both scores from eBay), the balcony is still my favorite place in the apartment.  Inspired by Heather Goes to Deutschland‘s recent post about her balcony, I decided to give you a little peak at our balcony this season.

Balcony
Geraniums

The loveliest thing about it is that I have very little to do with creating our little garden oasis five stories above the ground.  Mein Schatz has the green thumb and picked out the plants from our local Toom Markt, bought some soil, and our special ingredient, granulated rocks.  This year, at least, we didn’t need to invest in pots and had a good idea of the aesthetic we were looking for.

Balcony
No idea what these are called. Any guesses?

I didn’t take pictures of the process, but basically, it involved: pouring a layer of the granulated rocks at the bottom of each pot, covering that with a mix of soil and rocks, and then surrounding the plants’ roots with the soil.  I helped with one or two of the pots, but credit should really go to mein Schatz for all his time and effort.

Balcony
No idea what these are called. Any guesses?

Last year we learned the hard way that having an unprotected balcony so high up can lead to strong wind gusts, and we lost a few plants (and pots) along the way when they blew over and smashed on the floor.  This year, we’ve fastened the smaller pots to the balcony itself and hope that will do the trick.

Balcony
Strohblume

In any case, I’m looking forward to watching the flowers bloom and grow throughout the Summer, and am happy to have our little escape in the middle of the city.

Balcony
Cape Daisies

Do you enjoying gardening — on the balcony or in the yard — too?  Any tips or secrets, particularly for city dwellers with limited space?

8 comments

  1. Heather says:

    Love it and thanks for the shout out! The Cape Daisies are lovely, and I also like that purple thing you have. I’m a bit concerned about the daisies at my place, I think it might be too sunny and I’m really going to have to water them religiously… but we’ll see how it goes. I like the rocks idea on the bottom of the planters, if it doesn’t go well for me this year I’ll keep that in mind next summer. :)

  2. Sandra says:

    Your beautiful balcony reminds me of how much we miss not having an outdoor space when the weather is nice here. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Love, Mom

  3. Vanessa says:

    We live in Erdgeschoss, no balcony or terrace for us :-(. When the weather is nice and sunny I’ll sometimes go sit on the stairs at the building across the street.

  4. renata says:

    Greetings!
    This blog is great!
    The purple one looks like mexican heather (?). If it is, you should be able to propagate it by using fresh cuttings in the fall. I think it is a perennial in warmer climates, so if you bring it inside over the winter you should have it for next spring. :)

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