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The one plant you would grow when you have little space

bédébédé Posts: 3,095
in Plants
I am about to downsize to a flat and balcony.   I don't want clutter.  I thought I would take my two youngest mophead bay trees, one hosta pot (perhaps June), and one agapantus pot (perhaps Northern Star) and one pot for bedding.  Ooh and I would want herbs.  
 location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    That's more than one plant!
    I would find just a balcony very hard. I love roses and clematis and hardy perennials but if I just had a balcony with one pot I would probably plant it with pretty annuals that I could change every year. Then I would have the fun of buying something in a Garden Centre and planting up the pot afresh. Violas in winter. I would also have a pot of basil on the kitchen window sill.

    Good luck with your move.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited February 2023
    I too would find just one plant difficult ... a standard or cone-shaped female holly would give me year round interest and make me happy ... my first home was surrounded by hollies of all sorts and they make me feel sort of 'at home' ... and a planter where I could pop a few trailing nasturtium seeds each summer, would feed my body and my soul ... I have to grow just a little something I can eat ... I'm a farmer's daughter  :)

    June is a lovely hosta ... I have one of its offspring ... June Fever ... a handsome plant and I think it's my favourite ... so far ... 

    Good luck with the move  :)  Do you know which way your balcony will face?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    edited February 2023
    I found it hard to sustain an interest in gardening when I was living in a flat for quite a few years, but the climate wasn't really conductive to pots on the balcony (in Russia). If here in England, I'd have to keep a floriferous rose or two, and some small pots for spring bulbs and summer bedding.

    Good luck! 
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    For sheer usefulness it would have to be a Bay Tree.  Every time it gave you a leaf or two it would reward you?  Evergreen too!
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @bede I would grow herbs too. I have just been to a garden centre and sniffed a few. They can vary so I like to choose them for myself. Not the best day to buy better when they have the warm sun on their leaves.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Balgay.HillBalgay.Hill Posts: 1,089
    I would get into bonsai, and maybe cactus and succulents too.
    Sunny Dundee
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I would want something with wonderful fragrance that reminds me of the garden I had lost, so it would have to be a compact, potted rose. It would be really hard to choose just one, but Rose de Rescht or Lady Emma Hamilton spring to mind.. Or a Daphne Eternal Fragrance, whose scent would fill the whole balcony.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Dovefromabove said:
     Do you know which way your balcony will face?
    It's not ours yet, so ... many a slip ...

    But fingers crossed:  NE and another SW, but neither very shady.

    As you can see, I'm having problems getting it down to one. 
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    Blimey what a decision to have to make. I think mine would have to be autumn colour with interesting shaped leaves and if it had edible fruits then so much the better but I don't know of anything that would fit the bill. Bet Silver Surfer would though.
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    Lavender if a sunny spot; an Acer if more shady for me. 

    Realistically, if I just had balconies I would go for fragrance with roses, jasmines, and herbs. 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
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