- Shoot for Simplicity – Don’t pick fancy pots, each one in a different color. Find a container that has clean lines and is not visually distracting. Buy it. Buy several. In different sizes.
- Repeat a Good Thing – Plan on using only a handful of plants that are well suited to your climate and the conditions on your balcony. Ones that aren’t too fussy. Just because you’re only using a few plants doesn’t mean that your balcony has to be boring. Use them in different ways and in different combinations. A plant that is potted up all by itself in one pot can be combined with other plants in a second pot, etc. A rosemary plant can be kept in a pleasant bushy shape or trained into a topiary tree. Etc.
- Don’t Forget to Inject Yourself Into Your Garden – Put something–a plant or object or color–that makes your garden unique. If you have a small statue that’s meaningful to you, tuck it into one of your pots, or if your favorite color is pink, make sure that at least one of your plants has flowers in the exact shade of pink that you love so much.
- Edit, Edit, and Then Edit Some More – Don’t allow yourself to bring home impulse buys from the garden center. Make sure the plants and furniture you introduce keep up with your original design plan, and that they are environmentally friendly, pest resistant, suited to your climate, and so on.
- Start From The “Ground” Up – Use good quality potting soil and good quality, organic fertilizer at the appropriate times of the year. Water consistently according to your plants needs. Do what you can to support a healthy ecosystem on your balcony. Plants that have the things they need are less difficult to maintain because they’re better able to fend of pests and diseases. Plus, if you’re killing your plants all the time, that means having to replace them all the time, which is a lot of work!
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