Chain-Link Trellis

My other blog on Nordic noir and Scandinavian culture has prevented me from posting here lately, but I have a huge backlog of photos to share from this summer in Hyde Park. Today I salute those who "garden with what they've got," along with a few more traditionally beautiful balconies.

Case in point, below. Perhaps that security light is a brighter red than the little flowers above it, but my heart swelled at the sight of the planter. It doesn't take much to say, "I care, and I take care"...

...I've seen some nice stone balconies that look like a plant cemetery, so bravo to this gardener (above), who puts something up here every year--and keeps it watered. I might only suggest some trailing plants next year in addition to petunias etc.

And hats off to this scrappy gardener for using basic cinder blocks to create pedestals. By raising the plants up to chair level, the occupant can sit outside with some measure of privacy:

A tale of two balconies (below). I see this a lot. People are biased toward balconies with big cement enclosures. If they have one, they happily add plants. Yet the upper, see-through balcony would be lovely to sit on (and private!) if only it had plants.

Every year this balcony looks terrific with its oversized plants (below)....

...but I have felt some trepidation walking beneath it in a wind storm....

...so I googled around and read somewhere that you can secure big pots by using Velcro sticky tape. I don't know what this person's secret is, but we've had some fierce, tree-shattering storms on this street and I've never seen these pots budge.

This could almost be called a fire escape community garden...

Fire Escape Garden Colony

...If you live in Hyde Park, you've most certainly seen these (above) since they face a very public area. The inhabitants have chosen not to sulk inside with the shades drawn, and instead have gone hog wild with hanging pots and ivy. The lowest floors have little plots of earth that are all planted up too. A great example of infectious gardening!

This is more of a stoop than a balcony...

...but I fell for the mix of fancy cement flower planters and the upscale, stained wooden green bean trellis.

Now, for some typical three story walk-up balconies, the kind you see all over the University of Chicago neighborhood. They are so conducive to picturesque balcony gardening...