Balcony Makeover

When my fiance asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I excitedly responded that all I wanted to do was garden and write. I got to spend the first half of my day rearranging and cleaning the balcony, the second half writing, and the third half... wait, that's not right... nursery shopping and going out to eat! Oh, and for the ultimate birthday activity, I'm blogging and tweeting on #gardenchat at the same time!

I rearranged some of the furniture, filled a whole trash bag with garbage, and repotted a bunch of my plants. I even hung tillandsias from the ceiling with twine! You'll notice that the vriesea in the middle of the table is still blooming.

This unidentified vriesea's red flower spike has been gracing my balcony since fall and it's just now putting out its first yellow flower! It's mounted on a chunk of tree fern trunk along with rhipsalis, cryptanthus, tillandsias, easter cactus and an encyclia orchid.

Here's my newly created reading nook. Apart from the arenga engleri palm, all of the plants are epiphytic, meaning they grow on trees. On the white crates you'll find my "vertical garden", which is set flat for now to establish roots. I want to ensure that nothing falls out when I mount it again!

Containers of bromeliads and rhipsalis will keep me company in my reading nook.

I've also combined several rhipsalis planters into a galvanized steel bucket, and added a vriesea splendens in the center for drama. I really like the texture of the bucket as well as the way light glimmers off the edge.

With a balcony like this, who needs a "garden"? On a little sidenote, all of the plants I used are totally tolerant of full shade, as my balcony gets no direct sun whatsoever. I love my apartment garden.
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