Creative ideas to make your balcony garden more attractive

New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Plants are essential when it comes to decorating a small balcony. Avoid using too much floor space of your balcony, do not overcrowd it, says an expert.

Harpreet Ahluwalia, founder and principal designer at Earthly Creations has shared some smart ideas to have a small outdoor paradise that is full of life.

• Plants are essential things you'll need to have to decorate a small balcony. Hang potted plants behind the railings and on the walls.

   

• Avoid using too much floor space of your balcony, do not overcrowd it. Instead, devise ways to utilise vertical space to double up your space. It's the best space savvy solution that'll allow you to have more plants in your limited space.

• East-facing balcony receives almost six hours of sun, often between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., and the major benefit of having such a balcony is that you can save your plants from the harsh afternoon sun.

• West-facing balcony garden is quite similar to south-facing balcony -- here the sun shines at its peak for about six-to-eight hours and except tender shade-loving plants, you can plant almost anything.

• Themed plant and flower garden are also viral these days. People living in apartments and penthouses prefer to indulge themselves in kitchen gardening and low-space gardening with small pots and planters in their balcony area. Small coloured pots with different shapes and sizes are in trend.

• One can also place vines and planters in bottles too. Like growing creeper plants like money plant in a bottle will surely use less space and will also enhance the aura of your balcony. Waste bottles of soft drinks can be decorated and painted as per the colour scheme of your interior and can be used to grow such plants.

• Growing flowers of bright shades and exotic fragrance will surely attract butterflies to your flowerbeds. It will ultimately lead you to defining a budget-friendly butterfly garden in your balcony making it a centre of attraction and soothing to the sight.