How to protect balcony flowers from the cold and help them survive winter? Practical care tips

Modern cities are becoming more and more densely populated, and fully equipped multi-story and high-rise buildings give people a comfortable living environment. Adapting to local conditions and using balconies to grow flowers can bring people aesthetic enjoyment. Moreover, balcony flowers along the streets directly form a scenic line of the city, and they are beneficial for reducing noise, preventing pollution, adding interest to daily life, and purifying and beautifying the city.

Here we mainly discuss some care knowledge for balcony flowers in winter. Modern residential balconies come in two types: one is enclosed at the time of construction, such as most high-rise buildings and a few multi-story buildings. The other is not enclosed, such as most multi-story buildings, which still have open balconies.

(1) Cold protection for flowers on enclosed balconies. In winter, an enclosed balcony can play the role of a greenhouse and has a certain heat-preserving and warming effect. Some warmth-loving intermediate-temperature flowers cannot safely overwinter outdoors, but on an enclosed balcony they are basically free from cold damage. Therefore, plants such as asparagus fern, fuchsia, wax begonia, clivia, Christmas cactus, epiphyllum, azalea, cyclamen, spider plant, banana shrub, sago palm, and some foliage plants can all safely overwinter on an enclosed balcony.

(2) Cold protection for flowers on open balconies. Open balconies have fast air circulation, high evaporation, and low relative air humidity. In winter, because northerly winds prevail and the wind force is also relatively strong, whether it is a north balcony or a south balcony, even flower varieties that can usually overwinter outdoors in the local area still need appropriate cold protection on an open balcony, especially in areas north of the Yangtze River. South balconies of multi-story buildings are mostly open. Because they are sheltered from the wind and face the sun, freezing damage or cold damage to flowers is far less prominent and severe than on north balconies, so in winter flowers are generally placed on south balconies to overwinter. Some relatively cold-tolerant flowers usually survive winter safely on a south balcony with only slight management, such as woody plants like Chinese rose, heavenly bamboo, banana shrub, gardenia, peach blossom, winter jasmine, wintersweet, crabapple, osmanthus, pomegranate, plum blossom, tree peony, and kumquat, and herbaceous and perennial plants such as chrysanthemum, tuberose, tulip, orchid, canna, and amaryllis. But open balconies have strong wind and low air humidity, and the potting soil dries out very easily, so the flower varieties chosen must be able to adapt to this environment; they must be drought-tolerant and low-temperature-tolerant. Pay close attention to changes in the dryness and moisture of the potting soil. Watering too frequently is not good, but not watering at all is also not good. Some varieties in a dormant period can be watered less, while some evergreen varieties can be watered somewhat more often, and water can also be sprayed on the leaves regularly. Bulbous, tuberous, and perennial flowers are relatively drought-tolerant and can be watered less, such as amaryllis, tulip, canna, iris, white spinach, tuberose, peony, Japanese sacred bamboo, lucky bamboo, and dianthus, chrysanthemum, etc. However, when a cold wave strikes, preventive measures are still needed. A simple temporary insulation frame can be set up on the balcony, covered with plastic film on the outside; in areas north of the Yangtze River, double-layer plastic film can be used. Plastic film can also be used to wrap the entire potted flower to achieve the effect of heat preservation and cold protection. In addition, some warmth-loving flowers can be temporarily moved indoors to prevent freezing damage.