Saturday, May 21, 2011

WFT Extra 008: Chicago Balcony Gardening

I just thought it would be nice to share my recommendation of perennial plants that you might want to consider growing on your balcony.  I am not a professional gardener, so these are just from four years of my limited experience of balcony gardening in the Windy city. 


GREAT 
- Clematis -> needs leading and trimming but pretty low maintenance.  almost impossible to kill it. 
- Phlox -> very strong.  grows a lot. 
- Campanula  -> it grows at decent rate. 
- Dianthus  -> depending on the specie, some gets weaker over the years. 
- Blue Salvia  -> it pretty much sustains the original size. 
- Iris ->  very strong.  it should not be planted with other plants. 
- Lily -> not over powering but very durable. 

OK
- Muscari -> it came back every year but got weaker each time. 
- Lupine -> it was fine for the first 2 years.  do not like humidity.  
- Mum -> some looked very weak the second year. 


BAD
- French Lavender -> totally died after the first winter.  
- Any potted tree -> we killed two firs and a plum tree.
- Oswego Tea -> cannot stop growing.  it'll take over your entire balcony.  it looks like a weed. 

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