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Old 20-11-2007, 12:19 AM posted to rec.gardens
Scott Hildenbrand Scott Hildenbrand is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Sep 2007
Posts: 246
Default Planting Ivy on a second floor balcony!

JayDee wrote:
On Nov 19, 11:33 am, Sheldon wrote:
JayDee wrote:
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

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


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


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

http://www.mainstsupply.com/images/200/m56527l.jpg

Maybe something like


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

or...

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

or etc..


Or perhaps pick up a trellis like this.

http://www.trellisstructures.com/tre...-palladian.jpg

and 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.