Beauty on the Balcony

Garden designer Yolanda Alba of Blooming Garden was called in to help clients in a quandary over what to do with their big, windy balcony.

Plant selection was critical to the success of this project. As well as tolerating the wind, the plants will have to cope with occasional dry spells as the owners have a busy lifestyle and travel a lot.

Plant selection was critical to the success of this project. As well as tolerating the wind, the plants will have to cope with occasional dry spells as the owners have a busy lifestyle and travel a lot.

Yolanda’s challenge was to transform the patio into a more comfortable and inviting space that would inspire its owners to use it. She immediately saw that she would need to create some shelter and improve the sense of enclosure. She also needed to choose windtolerant plants for those blustery days.

The solution was to split the area into two more intimate spaces using the existing planter boxes, a pair of long timber troughs. In these, Yolanda replaced the lavender and Mexican orange blossom with the infinitely more wind-hardy Griselinia littoralis. This popular native shrub is densely clothed in glossy, lime-green leaves with attractive wavy edges. It is easy to trim, and one of the decade’s most popular hedge plants.