Best Balcony Flowers and Plants for Summer

Sunny spots will bake delicate plants. You need hardy ones, like geraniums and lavender, which will absolutely thrive in the direct heat with proper care.

Our top picks for your sunny balcony:

Petunias

They have trumpet-shaped flowers in pinks, purples, reds, and whites. Those flowers will cascade over the edges of your pot for a decent visual show and stay looking fresh up until mid-August with light watering every few days.

Lavender

A classic plant everyone knows but few consider for their balcony spot. Add it to your balcony, and you’ll have a heat and direct sun champion that attracts pollinators. The green stems also stay throughout the year. One deep watering per week is all that’s needed.

Marigolds

Yellow, orange, and red are the big deal with marigolds. These are cheerful balcony flowers with gorgeous looks from June to the first frosts around November. Deadheading will keep yours looking their best, with watering 2-3 times/week in summer.

Geraniums

Geraniums are bright balcony blooms with scalloped leaves and a ruffled texture. It’s a compact and bushy balcony flower, requiring only one watering per week in summer. Flowering is from late May to November.

No sunlight isn’t a problem. Let’s get that right. You can still have a colourful spread with flowers that enjoy the shade and won’t wilt.

The ones we recommend:

Begonias

Begonias don’t have any problems flowering from June, and they stay looking their best up until September. Deadheading them regularly keeps them that way, with watering 2-3 times per week. You’ll like their waxy leaves and rose-like heads.

Fuchsias

These have pendant-shaped blooms and won’t show any signs of degradation with regular watering. Fuchsia needs moist soil and will go yellow and wilt if it dries out too much. Looked after, they flower well into September.

Ferns

No flowers with ferns, but you do get rustling greenery and an easy way to fill out your flowerbeds. There’s a woodland look to these. What we like most is how they move in the wind and soften balconies with their featheriness.

Some plants do fine in the wind and will survive gusts of around 30mph without their flowers flying off. It’s still best to shield them in some way, though, such as with a privacy screen or trellis.

Sedum

Sedums are succulents with thick leaves and small star-shaped flowers. They’re an easy balcony addition if you’re in a windy spot. Those flowers come from late summer through autumn, and you’ll have year-round foliage.

Hardy geraniums

A more resilient species than standard geraniums. These are Cranesbill, with saucer-shaped flowers and flexible stems. Flowering is from May to September, and they rebloom if you trim back after the first dead flowers. Water twice per week.

Ornamental grasses

A Phormium will do your patio well with its rigid leaves and delicate spread. Another is Stipa tenuissima for a grassier appearance. Both plants do fine in full sun and partial shade and don’t require watering more than once/week.

You’re not at home enough to baby your plants, or you’re a forgetful one. No worries. A succulent will do your balcony well, as will any hardy perennial. Cacti are worth a go if you like the way they look. A few options:

Succulents

Sempervivum and Echeveria have thick, fleshy leaves in green, grey, or purple, and will do fine without any watering for weeks. They do grow slowly, so a mature plant makes sense for immediate impact on your balcony.

Heuchera

Also known as Coral bells. It’s semi-evergreen and likes dappled shade, plus some morning sun. Watering is once per week at most. Dry soil is no problem, and you don’t need to cut it back. Its flower spikes grow from May to July.

Flowers from a florist can last up to around one week outdoors on your balcony, provided they’re in a shaded and unexposed spot. Picks we recommend:

Carnations

These are the hardiest of cut flowers with sturdy stems and petals that tolerate direct sun and heat but will wilt in extremes. A partially shaded spot is best. Change the water daily to provide a pure source, and you’ll extend the life of your carnations.

Alstroemeria

Another hardy flower that pairs well with carnations in a mixed bouquet. You’ll enjoy alstroemeria’s tall, wiry stems and dainty flowers that hold up well outdoors. A five-day lifespan is normal on a balcony or one week indoors.

Gerberas

Gerberas are delicate at first glance but tolerate the wind well enough, plus they can be white, orange, pink, yellow, or red, all the popular colours. You’ll get three to four days out of them outdoors in summer.