The best plants to create a country-style corner on your balcony

A touch of the countryside on your balcony

The countryside evokes a place far from towns, distant from the urban atmosphere, where concrete prevails over nature. The countryside brings to mind fields of wheat and delicate flowers that undulate in the wind and sun, old orchards laden with fruit trees or in bloom, and gardens cultivated in an ecologically sound way, like those of our grandparents with a corner dedicated to the vegetable patch. In short, we all have in mind a particular image of the countryside, tied to the region where we spent our holidays as children and to our memories. The common thread across these images is their closeness to nature and an atmosphere that is, too, natural.

To transpose a countryside ambience onto your balcony, you can welcome plenty of flowers and create a beautiful sense of abundance in a planting scheme a little wild that gives the whole a natural look. This tangle of vegetation will attract insects and birds, just like in the countryside.

For selecting plants, keep in mind to choose compact plants and shrubs that can be grown in pots and whose planting conditions are suited to your region’s climate and the balcony’s exposure.

Wildflowers and grasses

There’s nothing better than field flowers, with a wild or airy look, to immerse us in a peaceful countryside atmosphere.
Let’s begin with plants that evoke a flowering meadow, swaying in the breeze.
With their graceful habit and finely cut foliage, Cosmos bring a touch of lightness and poetry.
You can plant up a flowering pot with Cosmos ‘Sonata Light Pink’ in soft pastel colours, perfect for a countryside-inspired balcony.
The yellow heart, crowned by a corolla of pale pink petals, attracts butterflies. This annual plant can be paired with gauras and grasses to add even more lightness. You can also opt for other colours in soft tones like Cosmos Xanthos Yellow. Cosmos are easy to grow. Plant them in full sun in a moist, well-drained soil.

You can also dedicate a large planter to growing cottage garden flowers suitable for pot planting to create a miniature wildflower meadow effect. Think for example of common daisies or ‘Alaska’ Shasta Daisy, Nigella damascena ‘Moody Blues’, California poppies ‘Sun Shades’ and camomiles.

For a wilder, lighter effect, add to your pot arrangements a few grasses such as Pennisetum villosum – Woolly foxtail grass, Stipa barbata – Bearded hairgrass or the Stipa tenuifolia – Angel hair Pony Tails. A bit of wind and sun, and you’re in the countryside!

Clockwise from the top: Gaura, Cosmos, Nigella, Stipa tenuifolia, California poppy, Daisy, Pennisetum villosum

Romantic flowers for creating beautiful cut flower arrangements

The pleasure of a country garden is also being able to enjoy flowers that will make a beautiful cut flower arrangement. Hydrangeas offer generous flowers that evoke grandmother’s gardens. Choose for example the Hydrangea paniculata ‘Early Harry’ – paniculate hydrangea, very hardy and easy to grow in a large tub with fresh substrate. Another compact hydrangea that can be planted in a large tub, the Hydrangea – Hydrangea serrata ‘Hakucho’ is also very hardy and produces very striking white flowers.

Voluminous and lush, peonies also offer beautiful and generous flowering, evoking the beauty of the countryside. Some can be grown in pots such as the Paeony ‘Itoh Morning Lilac’ or the Paeony ‘Itoh Hillary’.

With their bell-shaped flowers, campanulas bring a very bucolic touch. You can grow wall bellflowers on your balcony in a window box or planter, for a more imposing presence the Campanula ‘Carillon’. Easy to grow, they are very hardy and make beautiful cut flower arrangements that last a long time.

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Early Harry’, Itoh Peony ‘Hillary’, Campanula portenschlagiana, Hydrangea serrata ‘Hakucho’, Campanula ‘Carillon’, Itoh Peony ‘Morning Lilac’

Old roses, English roses, landscape roses, or climbing roses

Quintessentially romantic, roses are essential flowers in country gardens. And as there are many roses that can be grown in pots or containers, enjoy this wide choice! For border roses, head for proven performers, such as cluster-flowered ‘Astronomia’. Very floriferous, it produces clusters of delicate blossoms on arching stems. Also cultivable in a tub, large-flowered rose ‘Pope John Paul II’ is a bush rose that bears large white roses, very romantic. Double-flowered, they are scented and emit lemon-scented fragrances.

If you love old roses, you could choose for example for your balcony old-fashioned ‘Comte de Chambord’ rose, remontant and very fragrant. And if you prefer English roses, turn to the ravishing and fragrant rosier David Austin ‘The Alnwick Rose’.

On your balcony, you can also adopt a climbing rose suited to pot culture, such as climbing rose ‘Mini Eden Rose’, which is a miniature version of the famous ‘Pierre de Ronsard’. You can also choose fragrant varieties such as old-fashioned ‘La Reine Victoria’ or old-fashioned ‘Gloire des Polyanthas’.

Before you start this planting, discover our article How to grow a climbing rose in a pot.

David Austin rose ‘The Alnwick Rose’, old-fashioned rose ‘Gloire des Polyanthas’, climbing rose ‘Mini Eden Rose’, large-flowered rose ‘Pope John Paul II’, cluster-flowered rose ‘Astronomia’

Fragrant climbing plants

To create a protective living screen and make you forget your urban surroundings, climbing plants are ideal on a balcony. They dress walls, trellises and, if desired, a pergola, while serving as a natural privacy screen. Think of pot-friendly wisterias such as the ‘Grande Diva Barbara’ wisteria – Wisteria × venusta or Japanese wisteria – Wisteria venusta. Opt for other fragrant climbing plants such as honeysuckle, often planted in the natural-style gardens. Sweet peas are also particularly effective, as with the Sweet pea ‘Antique Fantasy Mixed’, a selection of old-fashioned varieties that are highly fragrant.

Sweet peas quickly cover a balcony trellis

Flowering bushes and fruit trees

Among flowering and fruiting bushes, look for compact, melliferous varieties, which will provide food for bees and butterflies and a refugium for small birds, as for example coal tits or blue tits. You can opt for a Buddleja, also known as the butterfly tree, to grow in pots, an Japanese dwarf flowering cherry – Prunus incisa‘Kojo no mai’ or another ornamental crab apple – Malus ‘Appletini (Gulliver)’.

A dwarf Buddleia in a pot, small but very floriferous!

Herbs or vegetables for a small kitchen garden

If you fancy it, you can also grow a small balcony vegetable plot by dedicating a large raised planter on legs to it. Time to grow the aromatic herbs as thyme, chives, tarragon, and mint! Add to these plantings vegetables: cherry tomatoes as the varieties ‘Black Cherry’ and ‘Barbaniaka Bio’, Nice Round F1 courgettes, Tom Thumb miniature lettuce heads, Paris Market carrots. Pour vous inspirer, découvrez notre article sur le Balcony vegetable garden featuring 15 mini-vegetables perfectly suited to container growing.

Even the simplest pots can accommodate salad leaves, tomatoes and aromatic herbs on a rustic balcony

Some tips for decorating your balcony and container gardening

When it comes to decoration, favour natural materials: terracotta or wooden pots, a table and chairs in rattan or wood, cushions and fabrics in natural fibres such as linen. This will keep you in the countryside spirit you’re after.

When it comes to cultivation and maintenance, growing in pots is more demanding than growing in open ground. In pots, the substrate becomes poorer and dries out more quickly. Plants need to be repotted regularly according to their growth. The more frost-prone ones should be protected from the cold in winter. In short, there are a few cultivation principles to know, which you’ll find summarised in our article on the cultivation of potted plants. Happy planting!

Opt for natural materials for a countryside balcony such as rattan and terracotta, and don’t forget to add a cat