Your balcony is your mini garden
Decorate your balcony - it is part of your house
Your balcony is the part of your house but probably most neglected and used as keeping items not in use or you want to hide from visitors’ views. I have seen that most balconies in multi-storied buildings are used as storerooms or for laundry purpose although a few flowerpots kept or hanging but either untended or not fully maintained. What I feel that your balcony is the right place where you can sip a cup of tea or coffee and plan your day.
Size of your balcony
In most flats, balconies provided are of smaller size than your need but the size is not important if you use your imagination to decorate it. You can decorate it as a lovely place for sitting purpose for your family members by beautifying it with your creativity. In fact, you can convert it in a small garden with plants of your choice in suitable pots size according to space available. You must select right kind of pots to take full advantage of the space available. You can try money plant or Bougainvillea tropical vining plants, which spread and cover fast in a beautiful way. Do keep plates under the flowerpots so that while watering the plants, it does not soil your balcony floor.
Furniture for your balcony
The most important aspect of a balcony’s decoration lies in it’s furniture probably where you imagination puts to test. The furniture for your should be light and compact which use minimum possible space as most balconies contain small amount of space. You should try wrought iron, cane or plastic chairs which look beautiful as well easy to shift. You can have a small swing in your balcony to enjoy your spare time with a book or newspaper in your hand. You can go for a cane made single chain swing or if you have enough space, you can opt for wrought iron made portable, bigger swing.
Fence your balcony
Your balcony is outer part of your house where you can spend some time with your family members but you may lot of unwanted onlookers therefore it’s better to have you balcony fenced with material that would enhance the beauty of the place and make it more comfortable and keep your privacy intact. You can use rope fencing, bamboo fencing or even wooden striped fencing with all your vine plants covering it to give it a more natural and green look. You can go for number of other options according to availability and climate of your area from the list of vine plants provided here - Clematis, Cardinal climber, Akebia, Black eyed Susan vine, Boston ivy, Cross vine, Cypress vine which could be available in your nearby nurseries.
To give your balcony an ethnic look you can use metallic flowerpots or colored ceramics. You should use green shades for painting your balcony area including fencings to have a wonderful natural and soothing experience. You can have open spaces shaded with colored synthetic fiber sheets to protect it from sun and rain. You should use dim lights for your balcony with artistic lampshades but avoid high-powered bulbs. There are different designs and shades available in the market for specific purpose to give your balcony a unique look.
Let me suggest - Chrysanthemum
I would prefer to suggest a few lovely flowers for your balcony other than traditional roses and marigolds, you can try Chrysanthemum flowers commonly known as Guldaudi in our country. For me it is one of the most gorgeous flowers available in different colors. If rose is king of flowers, people call Guldaudi, queen of east for variety and easy availability of Chrysanthemum. By the way, beginning of winters is right season for planting it but you can go for different varieties for other seasons as well.
Chrysanthemum is available in three varieties according to sizes Big, Small and Mini. The Big variety has 13 different sized flowers like spider, tubular, reflex, incurve, decorative etc. where as the Smaller has 6-7 varieties called Anemone, Pompon, decorative, spray, Korean and ‘no pinch no stake’ etc. It goes for Mini also where you can find different varieties.
Chrysanthemum for your balcony
You can grow Chrysanthemum easily in flowerpots using homemade compost fertilizer, you can utilize your used soil from your old flowerpots, fallen leaves etc or you can go for readymade fertilizers containing Zink, bone powder, sulfur etc. If you have enough space in your balcony, I would suggest you to go for big one, selecting one or more than one of these varieties- Snowball, Dignity, Pink cloud, Ajina Purple, Sonar Bangla, Kasturba Gandhi, Changez Khan etc. In Small category, you can select from Cotton Ball, Birbal Sahni, Apsara, Sweet Singar, Jayanti, Kundan, Nanako, Ratan etc.
As for varieties of Mini, you can plant them in cups and glasses also and keep them at whatever space available. How to plant Big Chrysanthemum is an art, as there are different ways to plant Guldaudi according to your choice. Ask your nursery keeper to know the ways of planting in detail. You can have one plant of small variety, which is best for balcony purpose in one flowerpot and giving it different shape by pinching it in three phases.
Coleus is wonderful
Coleus is another wonderful plant for your balcony for its lovely leaves especially the hybrid verities available in nurseries. Coleus can be planted by seeding or by planting its cuttings or available in nurseries. You would be surprised to see the numbers of colors this plant is available right from green, pink, yellow, purple maroon, red etc. You should be careful to see that this plant kept where only morning sun can reach it because harsh sunlight proves dangerous for it.
You can prepare pots for Coleus same as for Guldaudi. Coleus is available in two varieties to choose from according to your choice of big or small leaves. You can develop Big leaf Coleus up to 2-6 feet size according to space available and if you have opted for smaller leaf Coleus, you can pinch it according to your choice. I have seen many plants in beautiful umbrella shapes in a row giving a gorgeous view.
Conclusion
You have different options available to decorate your balcony with different furniture, flowers, swings and fencing according to size of your balcony and space available. Take full advantage of this space, which probably is the only open space available in your home of modern day lifestyle. Utilize it fully to enjoy nature at its best.
photos from wikipedia
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