I've already joined the downtown neighborhood association and have begun attending the meetings to get to know people. If you all were looking for someone to create a balcony/patio/small space garden, how would you look for them? Thanks for any tips you can give me!

Jenny

Also - if garden shows come to your area, consider getting a booth or even participating by creating an example patio, deck, balcony, or even small rooftop that you might landscape for someone. We have the Philadelphia Flower Show sponsored by the PA Horticultural Society here where hundreds of landscapers create both grandiose and intimate setups featuring their landscaping and hardscaping ideas. I've seen some amazing patio gardens, no more than perhaps 10' x 10' or even smaller. We also have the "Philadelphia Green" project also part of the PHS, that supports urban gardening.

My sisters and I go to the Flower Show here every year and I usually try to take pics of some of the more interesting landscapes. This year, I didn't get any very good pictures (the shutter speed ended up being a bit too slow even set to auto and with a flash)... But as an example, the below was an entry for what looks like a small rooftop container garden (with door access), and you can even see a skylight to the left and a roof exhaust fan in the center, both landscaped around.

This past year's show was unique from previous years because I saw many many more entries by individuals and small clubs doing their own tiny patio and courtyard gardens. I'm thinking maybe they opened that up as a new class of gardens for judging (they have always had container and windowbox classes along with what are probably "garden rooms", but this seemed different due to all the entries). I'm hoping the same will hold true in the future as the big nurseries often get most of the exposure and "press" with their large and often whimsical displays.

It's possible that once you break into your market, word-of-mouth will also help after awhile.

There are also a lot of other plants for your area that "survive" winters- but they go dormant, which means they lose their leaves and look ugly until they get their leaves back in Spring.

Best of luck.

However a very very hardy shrub that can give you some winter interest is the red twig dogwood. I have two of them and they look amazing in winter, particularly when snowed on. I have also found that they are pretty care free other than making sure they get some fertilizer and water. I think the "drawback" may be that they grow quite quickly and may require frequent repotting and or dividing, although I'm going to see how it goes with slowing down (by letting it go potbound) my oldest one to keep it in its current container. I can root prune in any case, so as to refresh the soil in its container.

The above ideas are great--thank you, laurat! Through my involvement in the downtown neighborhood association, i have gotten several jobs but none of them are the balcony/patio types that i was looking for! I am doing some container jobs right now, and that is exciting because i love doing those types of jobs. You got me to thinking about providing some potted garden "door prize" for the association's monthly happy hour, and developing an urban garden show for downtown (inviting plant pros to create urban garden spaces for courtyards, balconies, patios....and of course i'd be one of them!)

I'll keep letting you all know what happens. I got really excited about it last fall, then landed some big jobs that kept me too busy to follow through on this part of my business. thanks, everyone!