Can you really grow flowers on an enclosed balcony? These flowers are not suitable
Many friends ask:"My home has an enclosed balcony, and I want to grow some plants. Is there really no hope?" Don't sigh just yet! Although growing flowers on an enclosed balcony comes with a few small challenges, as long as you pick the right plants, you can still turn the balcony into a small garden.
An enclosed balcony can absolutely grow flowers! But compared with an open-air balcony, it lacks the baptism of natural wind and rain, and both ventilation and light are reduced. Tough players like pothos, spider plant, and succulents can still live quite well on an enclosed balcony.
But some delicate plants suffer terribly on an enclosed balcony!Below are several varieties that should absolutely never be grown on an enclosed balcony.
Clematis: Clematis is known as the queen of vines, and when it blooms it is absolutely gorgeous! Outdoors, it fears neither wind nor rain, but once it enters an enclosed balcony, all the problems appear. With poor ventilation, the leaves easily get powdery mildew, covered in dense little white spots that make you worry just looking at them. Moreover, the light hours on an enclosed balcony are limited, so for clematis to climb all over the wall and burst into bloom is simply as hard as reaching the sky! If your home has no open-air environment, it is better not to try it lightly, so that full expectations do not end up in a pot of sickly green vines.
Hydrangea: Summer hydrangeas, in clusters like little clouds, who would not be enchanted at the sight? But hydrangeas have very high environmental demands! They like moisture, but the air circulation on an enclosed balcony is poor, so after watering the water evaporates very slowly. Over time, the roots easily suffocate and rot, and yellow leaves and dropped flower buds appear. Also, hydrangea is a long-day plant, and with insufficient light on an enclosed balcony, even if it blooms the colors will be much paler, completely losing that full and vivid feeling, making it too much trouble to grow!
Rose: Roses have large flowers and bright colors, and are known as blooming machines, but they are also medicine jars! The high-temperature and high-humidity environment of an enclosed balcony is simply a happy home for red spider mites and aphids. Once these little bugs find their way in, within a few days the leaves will be gnawed full of holes. Even if you spray pesticide every day, the effect is not very good, and it also leaves a strange smell in the house. In addition, roses need plenty of sunlight and space to spread their branches, and an enclosed balcony really cannot give them room, so in the end they may only grow leaves without blooming, all effort in vain.
Osmanthus: Smelling osmanthus fragrance in autumn is so pleasant! But osmanthus is a large woody plant with a developed root system and extremely high demands for ventilation and light. An enclosed balcony has little space and the soil dries slowly, so osmanthus roots easily suffer from oxygen deprivation and rot. Also, it needs enough low-temperature vernalization to bloom, and the temperature on an enclosed balcony is relatively constant, making it hard to meet this condition. Grown at home, you may not smell the fragrance for several years, and it still takes up space.
Actually, the key to growing flowers on an enclosed balcony is choosing the right varieties! Small flowers like African violets, kalanchoe, and Christmas cactus do not demand much light or ventilation, and instead can grow very well. If you really like the above 4kinds of plants and have no open-air environment, you might as well occasionally move them downstairs to get some fresh air,and as long as you are diligent enough, you can also grow them very well.