Return to the Balcony Gardening Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
z8 Beginner...where to begin?
| | |
Posted by leslie135 Zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 1, 07 at 14:05
| I'm brand new at all this and am finding so many tips and helpful suggestions reading these posts. I have a lovely apartment with a generous SW-facing balcony (13.5 feet wide, 8 feet deep). There are two lovely trees off my second story which will hopefully shade me somewhat from the oppressive afternoon sun mid-summer here in the northern Dallas area. But the railing is the standard iron and the apartment policy won't allow bamboo blinds, shutters, or anything of the like to block the parkinglot glares and stares from below. So I'm hoping to shade my balcony (and hide) with a plethora of plants along the inside of the railing. I thought about building an 8ft long, 12in tall table using an old iron porch post (the foo foo kind with grape leaves and curlyq's) as the table top and some decorative foo foo iron shelf brackets as the legs, all painted black or antique bronze and polycoated to protect it. Then setting lovely potted plants on and along either side of it. But where do I even start? I have so many questions, being such a newbie, I know nothing about what plants are best suited for the heat in the mid-day sun (which I will get for about 2 hours, full strength). Which plants will flower and not attract bees and mosquitos, and which will possibly even repell the nasty flying pests? I want citronella, as I've heard it's good to repell mosquitos, but I don't know if it's good for this heat/climate/zone, and I'd like something bushy (hiding factor) and floral, but again, no insects, please. Are my desires just too contradictory? I need help from you veterans, please! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: z8 Beginner...where to begin?
| | |
| Your request may be contradictory in terms of wanting flowering plants but no insects. Unfortunately, most flowers have evolved in order to attract insects so that pollination can occur, seed can be produced, and the plant can continue on to another generation. There are some plants that tend to attract birds (like hummingbirds) as opposed to bees and you might consider those. Ie., bees and many other insects tend to be attracted to the color yellow so growing flowers that aren't yellow may help. For shading/blocking, you might consider growing some vines - a good one that should be able to take your climate (which I forgot to mention in another thread for someone in the Houston area) is the mandevilla. Some other vines would be bower, carolina jessamine, or trumpet vines. If you construct or buy a lattice, that will give the vines a place to go. Some blocking plants that should hopefully take the hotter temperatures might include many salvias. I don't know how you feel about hummingbirds, but if you can attract some like I have been able to do, then they will take care of many of the flying insects (they eat them) and will even munch on spiders (I have had few if any spider webs anymore since I got my first hummers). They like the salvias and any other tube-shaped flowering plants like silene (which should be able to take dry hot) and honeysuckle (another vine that you could try like the native Lonicera sempervirens, with varieties like "Alabama crimson", etc). |
|
|
|
|
