Welcome to the forum, Barb!

Would love to help, but first some questions..
What kind of balcony is it (does it have metal railings or is it all concrete)?
Does it face the beach? And the beach, is that the ocean, or a bay? Is it windy? (winds from the ocean contains salt, and that can limit the plant selection somewhat).
Do you prefer flowers or edibles?

VG

Hi VG.

Our balcony is completely constructed of wood and faces the beach. We are across the street from the beach - separated by the main road and high dunes. It is ocean water. It only gets windy when a storm comes through. I was thinking of starting with edibles (herbs, tomatoes, etc.) and then working my way up to flowers.

Thanks for the help.

Well, I think most people aren't sure if you have salt spray or not at that distance from the water. IDK either. Your neighbors who garden should be able to help with that. Also, what's growing on their balconies? Anything you'd like to copy?

In my very humble experience, veggies/herbs are a lot more difficult than flowers. That doesn't sound like enough light for most crops.

I like to concentrate on pretty leaves, so there's no waiting for flowers to pretty things up, or disappointment if otherwise boring plants don't bloom. Are you able to use some hanging pots?

When looking at plants, avoid those that say full sun, there's not that much light on your balcony, and likely pockets of less/more light. It's getting a little late for this year, but some things could still give you some bang for your buck, like Mums when they start selling those, pansies, snapdragons, primrose.

That much light would go for Mara des Bois strawberries :) You can pick probably anything that is part sun or if the railing shades spots, shade would work. I have shade basically-- you can check out my posts and see what I have. I have a lot of part sun stuff too, but it's just being told to suck it up and deal. :P

Yes, it's possible to cheat a little, slightly too little sun, as long as one is careful about not letting things stay too soggy, in quick-drying soil (so things don't rot while they're growing more slowly.) With edibles though, that is usually less successful, since less vigorous plants attract pests, of which veggie/herb plants have SO many.

Also occurred to me that the container forum has a heavy amount of discussions about edibles. I would probably seek advice about specific container edibles there. The emphasis here in balcony forum tends to be more fru-fru/ornamental/decorative.

Maybe you would enjoy attracting butterflies and/or hummingbirds. That would be totally do-able in AM-only sun, assuming there are some of these critters in the general area anyway. Many ornamental plants have nectar and don't require more sun than you have, and a single feeder can provide a whole season of close encounters.

The other option is to consider "out of the box" edibles. I grow a few things-- the MdB strawberries, rosemary, passion fruit, begonias (flowers are edible), pansies, nasturtium (both edible flowers), ostrich ferns (fiddleheads), and a few other things-- because my shade isn't very conducive to vegetables. I have also heard good things about swiss chard in the shade or less light as well as many greens :)

The other option is to consider "out of the box" edibles. I grow a few things-- the MdB strawberries, rosemary, passion fruit, begonias (flowers are edible), pansies, nasturtium (both edible flowers), ostrich ferns (fiddleheads), and a few other things-- because my shade isn't very conducive to vegetables. I have also heard good things about swiss chard in the shade or less light as well as many greens :)