Perennials On The Balcony

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Periwinkle

Usually on balconies, loggias and in high flowerpots, which in winter cannot be covered with snow from the sides, only summer and biennials planted with seedlings are grown.

However, their cultivation is always quite laborious, since annual crops, seedlings, transplants and other operations are required. Cultivation of perennials is more profitable.

However, of these, tropical and subtropical species are most often grown on balconies, such as zonal geranium, pale reticulum, oleander, graceful fuchsia and other plants that are absolutely non-resistant. In the fall, they must be removed indoors, turning them into indoor plants, which, in essence, they are with us.

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But still there are perennials and those that are able to winter on balconies. True, there are not so many of them, since the conditions for their cultivation there are quite specific. On the one hand, they are more gentle for the aboveground part of the plants, since there are no spring and autumn ground frosts on the balconies, and on the other hand, it is much more difficult for their root systems in winter. After all, they must withstand, together with a lump of earth, a temperature of -25 … -30 ° C, since they are not protected by snow.

Although it is known that the root systems of most of our plants, which are constantly in nature under the protection of a snow cover, have adapted to withstand frosts only down to -12 … -15 ° C. Therefore, for plants whose root systems cannot tolerate lower temperatures, very good cover of pots, flowerpots, boxes in which they grow from all sides is required. But even it does not provide complete protection against prolonged frost.

Even such a covered root system often perishes, and after it the whole plant. However, there are still exceptions - these are especially winter-hardy species, in which not only the aboveground part, but also the root system, is able to winter on balconies at very low temperatures. As noted above, there are not very many of them, but not so few either. Those of them that are well known to our flower growers will be described here very briefly, and little-known ones - in more detail. From herbaceous perennials in such conditions, without special protection, the following are able to grow and overwinter:

Astilba is a plant up to 80 cm high. The leaves are shiny, double-pinnate. Blooms in July - August. The flowers are small, white, pink or red, collected in large openwork paniculate inflorescences. Loves rich, moist soil. Shade tolerant. Propagated by dividing bushes and cuttings. The first year of planting requires good cover.

Aubretia (obrieta) deltoid - ampelous plant up to 8 cm tall. Blooms in June with pink, blue or purple flowers. Any soil is suitable, but always well-drained, not acidic. Photophilous. Propagated by dividing bushes and cuttings.

Badan

Badan thick-leaved - plant up to 40 cm tall. The leaves are large, evergreen, shiny. Blooms in May - June. The flowers are large, pink, white or red, collected in dense inflorescences. Not picky about soil fertility, but likes well-drained soil. Photophilous, withstands partial shade. Propagated by segments of rhizomes.

Lesser periwinkle is a creeping evergreen plant up to 15 cm tall. The leaves are shiny, the flowers are blue, solitary. Blooms in May - June. Not picky about the soil, but prefers rich, fresh or moist. Shade tolerant. Propagated by cuttings.

Diklitra excellent (dicenter magnificent) - bushy plant up to 100 cm tall. Leaves are pinnate, bluish-green. Blooms from June to September. The flowers are heart-shaped, pink with a white center, collected in arcuate drooping one-sided racemes. The soil loves rich, loose, drained, fresh. Photophilous, but at the same time shade-tolerant. Propagated by dividing bushes, stem and root cuttings, offspring.

Iberis (stennik) Gibraltarian is an evergreen bushy plant up to 20 cm tall. The leaves are subulate-linear. Blooms in May - June, white flowers, collected in thyroid inflorescences. Unpretentious, loves light drained fresh soil. Photophilous. Propagated by cuttings.

Ivan tea (narrow-leaved fireweed) is a wild, rather decorative and beautifully flowering plant. In nature, it is a rhizome perennial up to two meters high, on the balcony it is usually lower, about 70 cm high. It is widespread almost throughout the country, often forming continuous thickets. Therefore, it is easy to find, dig up and plant on the balcony, where it grows without shelter. Rhizome is creeping, sweet in taste, edible.

Young spring bright pink shoots with reddish-green leaves, similar to miniature palms. They are very decorative, edible, and taste like a salad. Adult leaves are lanceolate, alternate, on short petioles or sessile, pointed at the top. Blooms from late June to late July. The flowers are large, up to 3 cm in diameter, purple-pink or lilac-red, very melliferous. They are collected in an elegant brush, up to 40 cm long, pointed from above.

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At the end of flowering, the shoots stretch out and become bare, covered with pod-shaped capsules up to 8 cm long, containing small flying seeds. However, if they are promptly removed together with the fruits, then the lateral shoots begin to grow and bloom. As a result, the plant retains its decorative shape for another month, until September. Dried flowers and leaves can be used to make fragrant tea leaves.

Ivan tea is curative, has a laxative, emollient, hypnotic, hemostatic and wound-healing effect. Unpretentious, prefers sandy or loamy soils, dry or fresh. Responsive to fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers. Propagated by pieces of rhizomes and cuttings of young shoots. If someone is embarrassed that this is a "savage" and a weed - remember that all cultivated plants were once savages too. And it practically cannot become a dangerous weed in urban areas.

Iris low - a low plant up to 12 cm tall with lanceolate leaves. Blooms in June - July. The flowers are purple-blue-violet. Unpretentious, grows even on poor, but fresh soils. Photophilous, withstands partial shade. Propagated by dividing rhizomes, less often by seeds.

Siberian iris

Iris Siberian - grows as a compact bush up to 1 m tall. Cultured, but also wild. The leaves are narrow, linear, light green. Blooms in June, flowers are purple, blue, blue or fawn. Unpretentious, photophilous, but relatively shade-tolerant. It grows in all fresh and moist soils. Resistant to pests and diseases. Propagated by dividing rhizomes, cuttings and seeds.

The saxifrage (saxifrage) soddy is an evergreen plant up to 20 cm tall. The leaves are small, mossy. Blooms from late May to late June. The flowers are pink, white, or red. It is unpretentious to the soil, prefers loamy, drained, fresh. Photophilous, at the same time shade-tolerant, drought-resistant. Propagated by dividing the bush and cuttings. Suitable for curb landings.

The bell is small (tiny) - a miniature creeping plant up to 15 cm high. The leaves are semi-oval. Blooms in June - July. The flowers are large, white or blue. Photophilous. Loves rich, drained humus non-acidic soils. Propagated by dividing bushes, cuttings, seeds.

Perennial daisy - low, up to 20 cm tall, plant. The leaves are oblong, dull green. Blooms from May to late September, with a break in July. Inflorescences are simple and terry baskets of white, pink or red color. Photophilous, but tolerates partial shade. Prefers rich soils - drained loams. He loves mineral fertilizing and watering, but with an excess of moisture in the soil in winter it can dry out and freeze out. Propagated by dividing bushes, cuttings and seeds. For the winter, it requires shelter with a dry leaf, spruce foot, etc., especially its terry varieties.

Sedum - sedum

Sedum prominent (beautiful, beautiful) is a succulent plant with straight unbranched shoots up to 50 cm tall. Leaves are opposite, broadly oval, juicy, brittle, waxy, light bluish-green.

Blooms in August - September. The flowers are small, pink, mauve or red, collected in an umbrella-shaped inflorescence up to 15 cm in diameter. Photophilous, withstands light shading. Not picky about soils, prefers sandy and sandy loam, drained, dry. Propagated by cuttings, dividing bushes, seeds. For the winter, it requires a good shelter for the entire soil coma.

Sedum caustic - low, no higher than 8 cm, creeping succulent - "savage", which is at the stage of domestication. Stems are thin, branched. The leaves are small, fleshy, dark green. Blooms in June - July. The flowers are small, golden yellow, collected in a half-umbellate inflorescence. It is not picky about soils, prefers sandy and sandy loam, drained. Photophilous. Aggressive weed. Healing, slightly poisonous. Propagated by dividing bushes, cuttings and seeds. Suitable as a curb and ground cover plant. Not too decorative.

Sedum false - a succulent creeping with a dense pillow up to 20 cm high. The leaves are fleshy, juicy, rounded, bluish-green. Blooms profusely from May to August. The flowers are white, pink or red, collected in corymbose inflorescences. It is not picky about the soil, but prefers sandy and sandy loam, drained, dry. Photophilous, drought-resistant. Propagated by dividing bushes, cuttings and seeds. Suitable as a curb and ground cover plant.

Read the next part. Plants that will make your balcony unique →

Vladimir Starostin

Candidate of Agricultural Sciences

Photo by Olga Rubtsova, Natalia Butyagina, and E. Valentinov