How to turn your apartment balcony into an outdoor oasis

Unlike moving into a house with an established garden, the apartment balcony comes unfurnished. If you’re lucky, the last tenants may have neglected to pack and accidentally gift you with an old, dusty broom.

While the apartment balcony is typically a small, concreted or tiled empty patch, there are many ways to unlock its potential and transform it into a thriving, garden oasis.

A practical, good place to start is with pots and planters. Landscape designer Frances Hale of Peachy Green approaches smaller footprint balconies with planter placement first to steer the rest of her design. “You don’t need a lot of pots to make a big difference, but I think it’s nice to mix simple pots in a similar palette in alternating heights and shapes.”

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Lately, Hale has been integrating planters in greys, whites and terracotta and positioning them in clusters around the edges of the balcony before moving onto plant selection.

“Knowing the orientation of your balcony is really important as it will help you select the plants you put up there and hopefully choose ones that thrive in the environment,” she says.

If your balcony is fully to partially covered and exposed to indirect light, Hale suggests opting for indoor plant species. If your balcony is fully exposed, you need to go for tough stuff that can withstand that arid, dry and sunny conditions.

“Succulents, olive and citrus trees and a lot of Aussie natives, like proteas in pots, will thrive in these exposed areas,” she says. “Even though these are quite hardy plants, you can still create a lush effect if you pick the right ones.”

She suggests planting a mix of contrasting varieties that bring out the best in each other. “I always think the joy of gardening and choosing plants is to see the contrast between them, I love planting in pots things that trail out and down while something else in the pot grows up.”

Using available wall space creatively is another way to introduce greenery to the balcony. Phillip Withers of Phillip Withers Landscape designs suggests when there’s a limited footprint to take any opportunity you can with greenery and grow upwards.

“There are lots of opportunities to work with wall space and the ability to do things like add a vertical garden or use tension wire to add creeping and climbing plants,” he says.

To maximise floor space, a suspended garden is an alternate option where trailing plants, such as string-of-pearls, are planted into an overhead beam and when they grow and cascade downwards.

“It’s really nice and becomes a bit of plant curtain where you can almost walk through plant life and create depth.”

While Withers creates gardens of various sizes, he is on a mission to make the balcony a place where its owners can seek refuge in the same way they would in a larger, green space.

“It’s not just about looking good from the inside; it’s really important to make some use of the space and create a place where you can wander out and immerse yourself in a little bit of nature,” he says.

Once plants have been potted and your greenery quota fulfilled, add outdoor furniture. Even if space is super tight, Withers says even “one chair” will make a big difference in your ability to enjoy and experience the space.

For larger balconies, Hale recommends bench seating, either store-bought or custom made and built-in, positioned against the balcony edges.

“It’s fabulous for small spaces because it reduces floor space and can be used flexibly, you can bring a coffee table or stool up and use it as a lounge or improvise with a trestle table and turn the space into a dining area.”

If there’s an opportunity for custom built-in bench seating, Hale suggests building the seat quite wide. “You can then add custom upholstery and use it as a daybed to lounge in the sun.”