A tall balcony plant for privacy

April 9, 2017 2:16 PM

You have a balcony which you'd like like a bit more privacy on. You want something that grows 1.5 to 2 metres tall. The catch: you don't have a lot of space for planters, maybe 30 cm floor space out from the balcony edge. Oh and it shouldn't die in winter (-10 Celcius) or Summer (+30).
posted by bergnotburg to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Put a trellis in a planter and plant ground cover type ivy in the planter. It will grow up the trellis and be nice and thick. It winterizes well. You'll need to wrap the planter itself in winter, all around, including the bottom. I use bubble wrap triple layered, with burlap on top of that. If you don't have room in your budget for a trellis you can stick a bunch of long twigs into the dirt and tie strings across from twig to twig like a trellis. Ivy loves that. It sometimes browns out a bit in winter but does not die, and it stays full. It greens up again in spring. You may have to very occasionally pull it off of something else it wants to attach to, like a railing or wall, but it is very easy to control.
posted by the webmistress at 2:38 PM on April 9, 2017

I had this problem (my balcony is literally only 80cm deep, so no space for planters really at all). I solved it by planting a vine in a pot on the ground and training it up the side of the house and then out onto the balcony. You can kind of see it coming from the bottom left of this photo. Obviously this doesn't help if you are in a 80th floor apartment, though.

The biggest problem with small planters of the sort that would fit on my balcony is that they get super hot in summer and the roots of the plant gets baked. You can add insulation, but that increases the footprint of the planter. I tried all sorts of things, and even with watering them every single day, nothing could survive it. When I'd poke my fingers into the soil, it would be uncomfortably hot even for my skin!

Our summers get hotter than yours though (into the mid 40s C) so you might have more luck.

If you can plant on your balcony, the things I looked at for privacy (and fast growing) were bamboo in long narrow planters, various vines, dwarf citrus (you can prune them into flatter shapes), and even runner beans (I was going to string them up like this, but they never made it past seedling size).
posted by lollusc at 5:49 PM on April 9, 2017

One easy way to get coverage with little soil is hanging baskets. Plants that dangle don't need to invest in strong support like plants that grow up, and can often cover the same area faster and cheaper than shrubs and bamboos etc.

Pothos and Philedendron come to mind as cheap and ubiquitous options that will work, but probably won't survive your winter. Various true ivies may stay evergreen. Anything viney and falling can be quickly propagated by cutting, which is another cost saver.

Note that on an exposed balcony in a pot, your Hardiness zone may be a point (or more!) lower/harsher than simple location might suggest.

So I'd hang three or so trough planters and plant a few different things and see what works well with your location and care.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:50 PM on April 9, 2017