Beginner balcony gardener :)

[Bika]

Hi all! Its good to see such a treasure of information regarding gardening in Pakistan on this site. Keep it up! I recently developed interest in gardening - sadly though am restricted to 2 balconies however I am intent on making the best use of both through container gardening. I have started off with 2 pots of golden palm and 1 of cat palm and am loving the increasing height of young shoots on all 3 plants! This is all very new and exciting for me and I wish I had explored gardening as a hobby much earlier. Now am on the hunt for low maintenance evergreen flowering plants suitable for Lahori weather and containers. Any ideas?

[Farhan Ahmed]

Welcome to the forum!
Generally speaking flowering plants are not low maintenance. Here are some flowering and foliage evergreen plants easily available in nurseries.....for your consumption. By the way what is the exposure of your balcony.

Gerbera(Partial sun)


Coleus(shade)


Plumosa Fern
Very hardy. Can tolerate cold as well as low light conditions. What makes this plant interesting is its fine thread like foliage.


Asparagus sprengeri
Another grassy plant. Thrives on neglect. Very fast grower unlike other house plants. One season gone and you can divide it to make two plants. Easily propagated by dividing rootball.


Araucaria(Foliage/structural plant)


Spider Lily(shade/Foliage)


Persian Shield(shade/foliage)


Shrimp Plant(shade)


Elephant's Ear Plant(Shade)


Table Palm(Shade)


Snake Plant(shade)


Duranta(shade/flower)


Baby Sunrose(Shade/flower)


Cineraria(shade/annual/flower)


Kalonche(shade/flower)


Abutilon(shade)

[whitetiger297]

Wow beautiful colorful leaf coleus i am growing them from seeds

[Munir]

Farhan, what about Geraniums,which are commonly found in balconies?

[Farhan Ahmed]

Of course.....Locally known as jalibaan. My favorite plant. BUT, geranium available in our nurseries are not geraniums but Pelargoniums (zonal), Pelargoniums are hardy to our climate, they are favorite pot plants in West. Cranesbills are true geraniums, they are available in Haripur/Abbotabad.(Don't Know about Lahore). Pelargoniums do well in partial sun, but are by no means low maintenance. They are especially prone to fungus diseases.

[dragoonsers]

Hey! nice collection. I had to comment as I too started from my balcony!!

[Bika]

Thank you for the prompt reply and support - it's much appreciated! You have quite an impressive collection mA I have a south facing balcony on 2nd floor without shade and without any tall buildings on either side so it is quite sunny during the day. The other is west facing, quite windy and with some shade so surprisingly it's less sunny. I am looking to give my gardening attempts some color and fragrance which is why I was aiming for flowering plants. I have noted down your suggestions and the Persian Shield looks most appealing as foliage. As for the flowering plants I think I should stick to the couple of succulents you mentioned? And what about Motia? Do you think I could successfully manage that on a balcony? Thank you for all the help!

[Farhan Ahmed]

Motia...Yes you can grow in pot. Mr.Khabbab, the founder of the forum is growing plants in Pots. You can visit his Blog and see the "Endless possibilities" of container gardening.
http://www.lahoregardening.com/