Aww! That's a great seasonal display!!

How big is your space? No matter how big, we can fill it up! LOL

Hi Jenny,

My terrace is 6'X12". Not huge but comfortable. In late spring and summer we have barbeques and 5-6 can fit intimately. No one ever complains about the space that's for sure! Got to see your webpage and your balcony is beautiful with a great view! What a great collection of plants. I'm looking to add more evergreens that can withstand shade as I only get 3 hours of direct morning sun. Because my space is small and my friends like to use it a lot I'm considering vertical terrace gardening.

Glad you like my garden! It's been through alot over the years!!! LOL

Vertical gardening sounds good. Running plants up a trellis lets you use some wall space and shelves with plants cascading down, can make a wonderful display.

One thing you could try as an evergreen (non-conifer) is heuchera. They come in all sorts of leaf colors and blooms. They are very hardy, to Zone 3/4, and the foliage will simply droop in winter and when snow covered, but generally remains green throughout. Another that does that are the hellebores. I actually haven't grown them myself, but I really should. One of my mother's neighbors has some out in a patch of grass near the curb and they are pretty neat plants, keeping their leaves through winter and blooming in late winter/early spring. Both of these plants take shade and often grow in the woodland understory or on the edge.

As a shade-loving evergreen shrub, I have a Leucothoe fontanesiana "Girard's Rainbow". I thought I had a more recent picture of it but this is what it looked like a couple years ago:

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It is definitely a shade evergreen, likes wet soil, blooms in spring, and the new foliage on it comes out crimson red and eventually changes to dark or medium green, with white and/or pink mixed in. These grow in the woods along creeks and are listed as hardy to Zone 5. Only thing is in winter, you may want to put it in a somewhat protected spot out of the wind and/or just wrap some burlap around it because it can suffer tip burn.

As an alternate to evergreen things that like shade, you could always try some fern. There are so many hardy and nice-looking ferns and they seem to add a "coolness" to the space - especially in the heat of summer. Hostas are another, and there are now so many different color combos of those. Both the fern and hostas tend to have foliage for a good long time, starting in about mid-spring and lasting until frost.

As for vines, I think you got some good suggestions from Jim in another thread but you could also try one of the native honeysuckles. I've noticed that many seem to want to remain evergreen in winter and they will tolerate some shade. If they are in a protected spot, they might just hang onto their leaves for much of the winter. Alternately, you could try an english ivy. There are small or large leaf varieties, and although many consider it a pest, in a pot, it shouldn't be. They will struggle in a pot if the temps remain too low over the long haul (ie., in the teens or lower), and they can get winter burn. But otherwise, its an evergreen vine. Another evergreen vine might be bignonia capreolata (crossvine). We are just about on the line for them for container planting (they are listed as 5/6), but with a little protection and if they are established, they should be okay.

Hope this helps a little!

Hi Jenny,

Wow! Those are awesome suggestions. Thank you!

I've been eyeing the heucheras but didn't think potting them was an option. They truly are beautiful and I really like the orange and lime varieties. Girard's Rainbow sounds exciting as well, I'm not familiar with that one but I will certainly look into it.

As far as the honeysuckle idea I love it! I love honeysuckles but didn't think they'd survive on only 3 hours of sun. I may do a combination between honeysuckle and the creeping jenny. I have three shelves on one of the walls so there's some extra room for vertical gardening.

I'm trying to stay away from using big pots since my friends and I use the space for sitting and barbequeing in the spring, summer and even the fall, and I'm wondering if I can use smaller pots for the honeysuckle. Perhaps if I insulate them they may stay in small pots and survive.

I've been growing Hens & Chicks and they're doing well and I have a little pine and a some type of juniper bush in one big pot. I'm going for the Greek island look so I've changed the colors of the terrace from the reds and oranges to white, blue with yellow accents. Here's a couple of photos I took yesterday. You can see why I want an evergreen vine to cover the fence. I have a few old stained glass panels I had made a while ago hanging on the lattice and I'd love to see the vines grow around them.

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You can grow anything in a container! If you go to a nursery and buy a heuchera, 9 out of 10 times it will be in a what? A container (unless you go to one of those places that digs the plant out of the ground for you)! LOL Mine was buried during that February snow storm (it sits next to that redtwig dogwood):

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I was just looking at it this afternoon and it seems like it may be colonizing or something (I saw a shoot pop up in a corner away from the main 2 plants). I bought mine for the blooms (reddish) to attract hummingbirds. Here it is today:

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I can see what you are saying about having an evergreen vine. Problem is that where we live, there aren't many choices. I think the one that might be most successful for what you want to do is the virginia creeper. It can be planted in a trough along the bottom and allowed to spread across. I'm not sure how well it will hold on metal (if that is what your fencing is) but you could perhaps put some netting behind it to attach to.

You *could* try a sweet autumn clematis. They are supposed to be evergreen or semi-evergreen in protected locations and they can take quite a bit of shade. Similarly, you could try a creeping euyonymous which is also supposed to be evergreen. And in that case, there are some that are either variegated green/white or yellow/white (not the shrub one but the vine one). A somewhat marginal evergreen vine would be the akebia - this one most notably liking shade. The regular trumpet vine is also marginal in an unprotected spot but can be evergreen or semi-evergreen depending on your microclimate.

You could try a group 1 clematis. Those are spring-blooming and will form a permanent branching vine structure to bloom from (ie., they bloom on previous season's wood). Although it would be decidious in winter, it could form an interesting vine framework along your rail fencing. Similarly, you could consider a dwarf wisteria (the american species that blooms when young), a grape, or a climbing hydrangea and train them to grow across your rail.

With respect to honeysuckles - most of the ones that I have seen grow in the understory of woods or peep out from the edge of woods as they climb over anything in their path. It may not bloom as prolifically in lesser light but they don't do too badly at all as they will seek it out.

I think many of us regulars used to entertain on our balconies and decks until we discovered that by mid-summer, it was too hot to sit out there and forget about doing so in winter... So even the tables began to fill up with plants! LOL In your case, don't rule out some hanging plants where you could secure a metal shepherd's hook somewhere out there and hang some fuchsias or tropical ferns or other hanging plant that likes shade. Also don't rule out trying a small water feature with a little pump, some rocks, and maybe even a shade tolerant water plant like a dwarf papyrus, and that could create a nice cool and calming "atmosphere" on your balcony!

Hi Jenny,

I can't thank you enough for the wealth of information you provided. Now to decide which one! But that's the fun part, searching the web, looking at pictures tracking down the nurseries that sell them. What amazed me most is the amount of snow you got in zone 7. I keep thinking zone 7 is a lot warmer but we're practically neighbors.

Today on my way home from work I stopped at the Farmer's Market and picked up a Sky Rocket Juniper and a hanging basket of English Ivy. I also live right by the Manhattan flower market and the sidewalks are filled with all the spring shipments. They taunt me!

The water feature suggestion is something I've been thinking for a while. I get so much traffic noise and I was hoping that perhaps the sound of water would mask it a little. I was considering a wall mounted one, but is that something I'd have to bring inside in the winter to prevent it from freezing?

Thanks again for all your help! I know my terrace will be much more beautiful this summer thanks to you.

What you will discover happens more and more is what you just wrote about - you will walk into a nursery and something will leap into your arms and will come home with you! We call that "PJIC" (Plants Jump Into the Cart). LOL

With respect to the Zones and snow - the Zone merely indicates the lowest average minimum temperature over a range of years. The fact that I got socked with 16" of snow in February (ACK!) doesn't necessarily mean that my overall winter isn't a little milder on average than a lower Zone area. We normally have about 20" snow as the average. But what happens is that most of it (like many of us on the east coast) comes in 1 or 2 "big" storms and the rest from a couple moderate storms and that's it. I know that NYC (Central Park) is also now considered Zone 7ish - especially where you live, because of all the buildings around you. I also know that Central Park is right now, 0.1" under 40" of snow for this past winter. But that's above normal for the city and was mostly due to that same February storm where Central Park reported almost 24"! The normal average snow for your area is about 28" total for the season.

Regarding the water feature - you could leave it out but you would probably have to empty the water from it unless you have a heater. I have a half barrel water garden that I am going to re-do this year (it eventually got really gunky). Over the past 10 years, I kept a couple aquarium heaters going in it during winter to keep the water from freezing over since I had fish in it. I tried to keep the water in the 50 Fs whenever the temps were in the teens. Here's a pic from 2003 of it:

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The wall mounted fountains are kindof cool. I know some posters here with more sun have solar-powered fountains.

You can check back often as it gets warmer and you'll get some great ideas from people. I know there are a bunch of people who post here who live in NYC and they have some great balcony and rooftop gardens!

Hi Jenny,

I've had plenty of PJICs in my day, now I know what to call them, LOL! And I thought I was the only one with this problem. Is there a PJIC Anonymous group in this forum? LOL! My husband just shakes his head when I bring them home.

Thanks for clarifying how the zones work. Now it makes more sense. I did pick up a skyrocket juniper and an english ivy. Haven't repotted them yet, I think I'll wait until next month. I've been taking the ivy indoors at night cause the man who sold it to me said that since it grew in a nursery it should be protected from frost right now.

For some reason the last picture you posted isn't showing up in my browser. Had no problem with the previous photos you posted.

I had thought about doing a small barrel pond but I have a three year old who will try and climb in so a wall mounted one would be safer and take up less space as well.

This forum is filled with addicts who have PJIC-itis! LOL Now that I have an SUV... look out. lol

Regarding the pictures - I think Picturetrail has been doing upgrades of their systems (I noticed this happening over the weekend too and they had a notice up), so things are running slow at the moment. Hopefully they will be back up shortly.

I would agree that a half-barrel with a 3-year old wouldn't be prudent but I do like the idea of the wall-mounted spouting fountain. There are some really pretty ones out there and who knows? You might get some birdie visitors (hopefully not pigeons... ugh) splashing around in the water!

I get birds on my balcony as it is. Because I'm so near the Hudson river I get dragonflies, seagulls, pigeons. We also get butterflies and bees as well as lady bugs and mosquitos. I was surprised to see so much bug life so high up in the city. Nature is always full of surprises but I love it. The first time a dragonfly landed on my balcony door it seemed like a little present. I only wish fireflies would come up that high, lol!

Agree about the lightning bugs, although at my sister's house, they cover the trees along the creek at the back of her property, all the way to the top (about 50+ ft). It's amazingly beautiful to see a whole tree lit up with twinkling like that!

The one bird that I did finally have visit, starting in August 2004, was a hummingbird. She was apparently prepping to migrate and discovered my re-blooming weigela. She returned last June and stayed all summer. Plus I believe she had 2 babies, because by mid-summer, 2 juvenile males showed up with her. What helped other than the plants that I grew for hummers last spring, were all the insects. The hummingbird diet includes insects like gnats and spiders and it was wild that after years and years of huge spider webs along my balcony rail, last year there were no spider webs at all. The spiders and gnats became a feast for the hummers! LOL

Hi Jenny,

How exciting that you got hummingbirds to visit you! What a treat.

A re-blooming weigela sounds beautiful. I've seen pictures of them in my gardening catalogues and have considered getting one. What is their blooming time?

My weigelas bloom beginning around mid-May and carry on through into June (about 3 weeks with blooms on assorted branches). The rebloom for me usually happens around August.

I have a "Red Prince" (my oldest shrub on my balcony at 11 years):

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And a "Wine and Roses" (going on 4 years):

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The "Red Prince" weigela is what apparently attracted my first little hummer and these shrubs are considered hummer plants because of the tubular flowers and a somewhat decent nectar content.

Wow! They are so beautiful! Yours look nicer than the ones I've seen in catalogues! Would you happen to know if they're hardy to zone 5 or zone 4?

Since I've joined this forum I've learned that I should stick with plants that are hardy one or two zones lower than mine for balcony containers.

The consensus seems to be that they are hardy to Zone 5 (and they can get some tip burn that can be pruned off). I don't think you will have a problem where you are because you are smack dab in the middle of the city, which as a good urban heat sink, moderates your temps.