Planting Ivy on a second floor balcony!

[JayDee]

I was trying to come up with a way to cover the ugly stucco balcony I've got and it occurred to me that covering it with ivy would be amazing. However I'm not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination (as I may have already demonstrated) - but is there any feasible way to accomplish this? I would imagine that watering the ivy might be trouble without flooding the balcony! I do have a drain hole in the center of the long wall on the balcony which I might be able to use.

Any suggestions as to how I might do this and a good place to get ivy from would be greatly appreciated - and is this something a total beginner should even attempt???

Thanks!

- JD

[Green Fingers]

Well JD it all depends on where in the world you are, which direction gets the sun, how much natural rainfall your balcony is exposed to, whether you are going to have to water it, what size pot you will use to grow it in, etc.

Why not rather use a small leafed Ficus Pimula that gently but beautifully covers areas with its small green leaves, doesn't need much watering, prefers shady areas to raging sun, and will cover the walls in a few short years.

Ivy also tends to irritate the skin, has a terrible sticky sap, its runners attach to paint which when stripped is extremely difficult to remove ...

If you have a trellis and the balcony does not get sun at all apart from perhaps a few hours of early morning sun, try growing a Hoya Carnosa. It has beautiful glossy leaves, prefers being pot-bound, flowers after only a few years and the flowers have a lovely honey scent in the evenings.

Perhaps some other horticulturalists on this list can supply some other hints.

[Sheldon]

Ivy is not a good friend of masonary, especially stucco... within a very few years, by the time it's established, the ivy will cause the stucco to crumble and fall off your building. Ivy is also a terrific bug magnet, it you enjoy skeeters eating you alive on yur balcony go for it. Um, have you considered a fresh coat of paint... and perhaps a few hanging baskets of annuals

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Just for fun I did an image search to see what people were doing with hanging baskets on balcony's and this came up..

know what the plants are in it? Not 100% sure of what they are.

[JayDee]

well there's no ceiling on the balcony, so hanging plants wouldn't really work too well. I'm just looking for a way to cover the stucco... I think it's ugly. I thought of putting fencing around the inside of it also, but that's kind of pricy...

I guess any and all ideas are appreciated...Thanks!!

- JD

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Mount these to the walls in a creative pattern and hang draping plants in baskets off of them.

something like

..............O .......O....... ..O............

or...

..O.........O.. .......O....... ..O.........O..

or etc..

Or perhaps pick up a trellis like this.

plant something like Cypress Vine in pots below it. Cypress Vine would be safe as it does not attach to the building.

English ivy or any climbing ivy like that would decimate the stucco on the walls, actually pushing roots into it to the point where it would fall off the walls in sheets. But twining vines would be fine.

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Ivy is a weed, and what it will do to the wall is worse than the wall. You will love it when it starts dying in sections on the wall and you have to rip it down.

What you should look into is putting up a trellis and getting some climbing plants. Climbing roses, grapes, there's lots of nice plants out there.

Ted

[goober]

IVY Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

is the ugly that you refur too ugly to you looking out or peopl looking at your house???

if it is for you looking out why not some kind off planter on the floo with diffrent plants in them

regards

mat

-- goober

[JayDee]

it's for me looking out - I've got about 15 feet to cover and can only afford six inches or so of depth (the whole balcony only extends four- feet out. What would be a good choice? I'm also looking for something that doesn't need excessive watering as I don't want to flood the balcony. Thanks!!

[Scott Hildenbrand]

You should be able to find planter boxes that are narrow enough such as something like this to go along the rails, which you will see while inside;

pick up something like this for on the walls, for when you're outside;

question, do you really feel the need to cover 15' of the said balcony rail area with planters? Just checking..

Plant wise, depends on your zone but I'd recommend anything which is drought tolerant. Succulents are a good choice too.

Perhaps if you take a few pictures of what you're trying to work with and upload them to a photo hosting site like photobucket, the group may be able to give further advice.

Oh, and let us know what state you live in and the zone.