Whether you live on the ground floor of your apartment building or 30 floors up, adding plants to your balcony is an easy way to instantly transform the space.
But before you rush out shopping, you’ll need to do a little bit of homework first.
Working out how much sunlight the space gets is as important as deciding what you want to achieve for that space.
If you want to know the best plants for an apartment balcony, you’re in the right place.
We’ve highlighted all the best plants for apartment balcony makeovers, as well as provided advice on how to make sure they thrive in their new home.
Best Plants for an Apartment Balcony
It’s important to know that not all plants are suitable for all growing spaces.
For starters, some plants prefer lots of sunlight, while others like shade. If your balcony receives six or more hours of direct sunlight, choose plants that need full sun.
Plants that need partial sun require around three hours of direct sunlight, and those that thrive in the shade are best for balconies that don’t receive any direct sunlight at all.
Secondly, you need to make sure that the plant you buy isn’t going to take over by growing too big for the space you have.
What Can I Grow in my Balcony for an Apartment Makeover?
There are many plants, flowers, bushes, and trees that you could grow on your balcony for an instant apartment-balcony makeover.
Do you want a forest of green that brings nature to your balcony, an abundance of color, or an edible garden to amp up your kitchen?
Screen of Green
- Herbs are a great choice and may prefer full or partial sun depending on the variety, but you can cover whole walls with little pots of edible goodness.
- Ferns grow well in the shade but can grow to be quite big, so they are best suited to larger balconies.
- Succulents are a fantastic choice for balconies with lots of sun. They’re the ideal choice if you’re worried about remembering to water your plants often.
A Colorful Show
- Begonias have beautiful flowers and leaves and will flower year after year in lightly shaded environments.
- Chrysanthemums take up a lot of space, so you’ll only need one or two plants to make a significant impact.
- Pansies are perfect for growing in pots hanging from your balcony edge and thrive in milder temperatures.
- Fuscias love the shade and look great in hanging pots, either on your balcony edge or on the surrounding walls.
- Petunias prefer lots of sunlight, are easy to grow, and come in a gorgeous array of colors.
An Edible Paradise
When it comes to fruits and vegetables, there are many varieties that will grow well on balconies.
To start with, you don’t have to worry about the usual garden pests.
Strawberries, raspberries, and tomatoes need a lot of sun. In contrast, spinach and a lot of other leafy greens prefer shady spots.
If you lack space, then opt for vertically growing plants, like snap peas and beans.
What Can I Plant in my Balcony for Privacy?
The best plants for apartment balcony privacy are climbers and vines, as well as tall shrubs.
Climbers and Vines
After choosing some climbers you like, you can install a lattice-like frame for your plants to climb up onto.
Assuming that you look after your plants well, these plants will eventually reward you with a beautiful green curtain of privacy.
Tall Shrubs
If you don’t want to install any sort of framework, your best bet will be to opt for tall, slim shrubs in pots.
When strategically placed in the outside corners and along the outside edge of your balcony, the view will be heavily obstructed.
Doing this will leave you to go about your business without feeling like you’re being watched by the neighboring apartment building.
How Do I Organize My Balcony Plants?
Organizing the best plants for balcony gardens will depend on whether you have them all on the floor or in a structure of some sort.
If they are all in pots on the floor, we recommend keeping your taller plants in the corners and evenly spacing them along the balcony edge.
Then, take your shorter, bushier plants and place them on either side of your tall plants.
It also looks really great when you combine specific types of plants in the same pots.
For example, take a tall plant with a long slender trunk and pot it with a plant that spills over the edges to soften the lines.
If you have several smaller plants, as in a herb garden, pot them in similar sized pots and line them up on parallel shelves.
Alternatively, you can hang them from the walls in clusters.
You can also stack smaller plant pots by introducing small benches and tables that run around the edges of your space.
Best Plants for Balcony Brilliance
Finding the best plants for an apartment balcony really depends on what you want out of it, whether it’s privacy, nature, food, or color.
There are so many plants and shrubs that do really well in pots that you may have difficulties narrowing down your options.
Just make sure you go shopping with a clear objective of what you want to achieve and make sure you get plants that match your lighting conditions.
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