When a son and his wife move to an urban setting with a balcony that looks across a row of garages, rooftops and an alley, what’s a suburban mom (a.k.a. garden designer) to do? Plant it quick and make it lush.
“It’s such an industrial-looking balcony, it was a challenge making it look cozy,” says Eileen Klehr, owner of Thinking of a Garden in Arlington Heights.” They never used it very much but last year I got them into herbs and now they’re out there all the time.”
Her remedy for Tom and Colleen Klehr’s bland balcony outside their third-floor condominium in Logan Square was a blend of hanging baskets, window boxes and pots filled with annuals, perennials, vines and ornamental grasses.
The basic color scheme features orange, red and yellow flowers. “It’s definitely not a pink and purple garden,” Eileen Klehr says. “I’m so tired of pinks. I wanted more hot colors.” The 7 1/2-by-19-foot balcony faces south and receives full sun most of the day.
Some of the flowers that fire up Klehr’s plantings include `Lady in Red’ salvia, Brachyscome `Toucan Tango,’ coral and salmon geraniums, `Sundial Scarlet’ portulaca, `Obsession Apricot’ verbena and Ipomoea `Margarita,’ a chartreuse sweet potato vine. The vibrant colors are offset with a few cool hues from `Aladdin Sky Blue’ petunias, `Laguna Sky Blue’ lobelia, `Hidcote Superior’ lavender and silvery-leaved dusty miller. One hanging basket, a holdover from spring, holds a pink fuchsia, which received a reprieve and was allowed to stay on the balcony as long as it blooms.
Besides bright colors, Klehr wanted taller plants to give some height. The perennial feather reed grass (calamagrostis) and the annual red fountain grass (Pennisetum `Rubrum’) provide a vertical element and movement near the balcony door.
Honeysuckle and ampelopsis vines are slowly climbing up from pots to cover a metal trellis panel and the balcony railing. In late winter, the pots holding perennials will get wrapped in a thin blanket of flexible foam insulation available at hardware stores.
Asparagus fern offers an airy texture to a few containers and, in a rectangular pot on the balcony floor, `Homestead Purple’ verbena is a counterpoint to the trailing chartreuse Helichrysum `Limelight.’
Adding a horizontal wood lattice panel made the deck seem more private and softened the feel of the metal railing. “It helps block the view of the neighbors and the cars in the lot below,” Tom Klehr said.
Although the hay baskets tend to look nice, they dry out quickly, Eileen Klehr says. Plastic window boxes fill the bill nicely. “You can spend a ton of money on special containers but the space overlooks the garage so spend it on plant material,” she says. By July, the boxes are covered with the trailing flowers of calibrachoa, which look like miniature petunias, and with geraniums.
“Calibrachoa is not a new plant but there are many new varieties,” says Claudia Turk of Turk’s Greenhouses in Grayslake. “They are more tolerant of shade than petunias and they never need deadheading,” Turk says.
Some calibrachoa are mounding and some trail over the edge of the pot. So far this growing season, Turk has found red- and orange-flowered calibrachoa outpacing sales of their pastel cousins. Klehr used two newer varieties, `Callie Orange’ and `Tequila Sunrise.’
“The balcony faces south so it gets sun pretty much all day, but the afternoon sun always seems to make the flowers more vibrant,” Tom Klehr said.
Spring light levels are noticeably different than those in high summer and that should affect the colors we use, says landscape designer Marcy Stewart-Pyziak of The Gardener’s Tutor in Manhattan, Ill. “We think of pastels and pale shades like those in an English garden for spring, but hot, bright colors hold up more in our summer sun.”
Sturdy hooks hold the hanging baskets in place and windy days are only an issue when the umbrella is open. The wood lattice panel, hay baskets and a metal trellis are fastened to the railing with heavy-duty plastic fasteners from the hardware store. “The zip ties are great because they don’t require tools, are easily hung and removed and very strong and durable. And they’re only two dollars a package,” Tom Klehr says.
Concrete screws secure one half-moon metal hay basket on the cinder block wall. The couple waters all of the containers once a day and each week the containers each get watered with a water-soluble fertilizer. They remove faded flowers, a practice called deadheading, each week.
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A few pointers for a container garden off the ground
Garden designer Eileen Klehr shares these tips for container gardening in tight spaces on a balcony:
– Safety first. “We talked about hanging a stained glass window as a screen but I was concerned about it blowing down.” Instead, she used a tall metal trellis that supports a vine and a hay basket container to soften and screen the view. Also, Klehr used heavy-duty nylon fasteners that each hold up to 50 pounds and can withstand high temperatures. Ties should be checked periodically for wear or damage.
– Look out below. Strong winds can knock pots and window boxes — even heavy ones — off their perches and send them sailing. Consider the wind direction, the weight of containers, plants and soil, and whether they can be securely affixed inside a railing so they won’t pose a danger to those below.
– Follow the rules. Check with your building covenant or rental contract for rules governing the types of plants and containers and where they may be placed. Local building codes may also have height and weight restrictions. Avoid placing planters where they can create a tripping hazard.
– Pick a theme. Klehr chose annuals with bright, warm colors, such as reds and orange, which stand up to the bright sun on the south-facing balcony.
– Look inward. Window boxes filled with striking annuals were placed along the railing to stop the eyes while a person is seated. The boxes help redirect the view from rooftops and cars below to the flowers. “It creates such a lovely sense of privacy at eye level,” she says.
— Nina Koziol
Where to find plants
Many garden centers carry the annuals, grasses and vines used in Eileen Klehr’s containers. Call first to check availability.
Gethsemane Garden Center, 5739 N. Clark St., 773-878-5915, www.gethsemanegardens.com
Pesche’s Inc., 170 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, 847-299-1300, www.pesches.com
Platt Hill Nursery, 222 W. Lake St., Bloomingdale, 630-529-9394, or 2400 Randall Rd., Carpentersville,847-428-6767, www.platthillnursery.com
Prosek’s Greenhouse, 28W140 High Lake Rd., Winfield, 630-231-4991, www.proseks.com
Ted’s Greenhouse, 16930 S. 84th Ave., Tinley Park, 708-532-3575
Turk’s Greenhouses, 22781 W. Illinois Highway 60, Grayslake, 847-546-1569, http://turksgreenhouses.com
