What could be nicer than sitting on the balcony on a warm summer evening, sweetening the sunset with a good glass of wine and enjoying the view of the miniature rock landscapes you have created yourself? You don't need a huge garden to create a rock garden that is true to nature; a flat planting bowl on your own balcony is sufficient.
Which plants fit in a rock garden for the balcony?
Plants such as houseleek, hot stonecrop, sedum, tripmadam, rosette saxifrage, gentian, alpine aster, ice plant, cyclamen, cranesbill, blue fescue and various types of sedge are suitable for a mini rock garden on the balcony. Choose plants with similar location and care needs.
What you need to create a mini rock garden
If you also want to create a mini rock garden like this on your balcony, then you can use this shopping list to go shopping at the nearest garden store (or a hardware store with a garden department if necessary). You need:
- a bowl or other planter of any size (e.g. pot, flower box or balcony box)
- this should just be rather flat and also have at least one drainage hole at the bottom
- suitable substrate (e.g. cactus soil, herb soil or a mixture of potting soil and sand)
- suitable rock garden plants (e.g. houseleek, gentian, cyclamen, edelweiss)
- Stones and pebbles in different sizes
Caution: Stone vessels may be too heavy
It will be particularly stylish if you place your mini rock garden in a stone planter - for example in a trough made of natural stone or cast concrete. Please note, however, that such a vessel could be too heavy for the balcony for static reasons. However, stone troughs are very suitable for the garden or terrace.
Suitable plants for the balcony rock garden
First of all, you should not only choose the plants for your mini rock garden based on aesthetic considerations. It is much more important to choose plants according to their common needs: All plants in the planter should have the same requirements in terms of location and nutrient and water supply. Otherwise, you have a large number of suitable perennials, grasses, tuberous and bulbous plants to choose from. Due to the lack of space, choose mainly dwarf varieties and create a lot of variety in the planter.
Suitable plant species include:
- Houseleek (Sempervivum)
- Hot stonecrop ((Sedum acre)
- Sedum (Sedum)
- Tripmadam (Rock Stonecrop, Sedum reflexum)
- Rosette saxifrage (Saxifraga cotyledon)
- Gentian (Gentiana)
- Alpine aster (Aster alpinus)
- Lunchflower (Aizoaceae)
- Cyclamen (Cyclamen)
- Storksbill (Geranium)
- Blue fescue (Festuca glauca)
- various types of sedge (Carex)
Tip
If you have only selected hardy plant species, they can remain on the balcony over the winter with light protection. The plant bowl in particular should be wrapped with a warm material and the surface should also be covered. The roots freeze particularly quickly.
