If you are looking for a theme for your modestly sized balcony or deck garden you might consider Japanese.
The Japanese gardens we are most familiar with are the ones done on a large scale, such as the Kurimoto Japanese Garden at the Devonian Botanic Garden south of Edmonton.
But in fact, Japanese-style gardens are perfectly suited to small-space gardening. In Japan, where personal space is often limited to a bare minimum, Japanese homeowners make use of every bit of available space and use it very efficiently.
Something as simple as a brilliant cobalt blue container with a burgundy red Japanese maple, or a Hakuro-Nashiki willow with its wonderfully variegated foliage surrounded by a few smaller pots with colourful grasses can create a typically Japanese area of interest. Yes, I know that Japanese maples are not hardy in our area but many gardeners bring them indoors to overwinter very successfully. You can always substitute a burgundy-coloured Japanese barberry to achieve a similar look.
Along the same vein, the shrub in the container can be combined with another container filled with water that has a bamboo ‘deer-chaser’ fountain. This is the type of fountain that has a bamboo component that fills with water and then once full gently tips forward allowing the water to spill into the bowl in a peaceful fashion. This arrangement is another example of transforming an area into a garden with Japanese look very easily. The background can be an inexpensive bamboo screen available in any Oriental import store. The screen can be fastened with wire to the balcony railing and will offer privacy and wind protection. Check in local garden centres for other screen ideas, too.
Local garden centres often have a good selection of dwarf conifers. Consider a grouping of two or three dwarf conifers in an Oriental pot along with a small Japanese lantern made of stone or resin and once again you’ll have created an instant area of interest. This is also an example of minimalist gardening, which not coincidentally has many of its roots in the Japanese style. In minimalist gardening, the garden is very small and the scale is very much in the designer’s eye and not according to a pre-set design or scheme. What seem to be the limitations of a small space actually give you a lot of freedom to experiment with garden scale and landscape in miniature.
You can easily add a Japanese-style dry garden to your Japanese theme garden. The two main elements of such a garden are rocks to form mountains, and sand to simulate flowing water. The “sand” used in Japanese gardens is not a beach sand but a crushed granite. It comes in varying shades of white grey and is approximately two millimetres in diameter. If you have a problem finding crushed granite, try using the grit fed to chickens. Look for it in a farm-feed store. For balconies where wind can be a factor, using the coarse granite is better because it will not blow away as easily. The rocks you use should have some personality or unique qualities. If weight is a concern think about using lightweight lava rocks.
Any flat container or even a large cookie sheet can be used to create your balcony “ocean.” Place the stones first and then fill in around them with a layer of crushed granite. Rake the granite into wave patterns that are pleasing to your eye. I like using a hand rake for this purpose. You can buy special bamboo rakes for this task but the hand rake, which you can find in most garden centres, will do the job just as nicely. Place your nature scene where you can most easily see it and enjoy it. Use some dwarf conifers to add interest.
Japanese gardening is very much about creating a serene place with a minimalist approach to plant material and design. In other words, less is better. This approach lends itself well to the small spaces of balconies and decks. The balcony or deck can be turned into a retreat for both the mind and body. Size is not a consideration at all. By scaling down and using the minimalist approach, your condo or apartment can be a getaway equal to the largest of yards.