Summer is here and I updated my balcony for the season. Scandinavian flower shop chain Plantagen asked me for the second year if I could talk about gardening trends. Of course I said yes.
When I look at gardening trends I see a lot of things we have seen for the last few years. Of course we want to help nature so we will grow things that are good for pollinators (bees and butterflies), but we will also have gardens that can handle climate change, such as dry or wet summers. The new forest creature to take care of this year is the frog. Just like bees, they are dying. In my garden it is important to welcome all kinds of flowers, even things that some thing are weeds. That is also something you can see at flower shows like Chelsea Flower Show.
Gardening and lifestyle go together and we see that a lot of people are extremely dedicated to gardening. Some people want to have a natural garden, others an edible garden, or why not a cultural garden with flowers from 18th century?
When it comes to layout and products in the garden we absolutely see we furnish more and more. Basically copy our living quarters. So our garden should have a dining section, a reading room, a resting room, kids room and why not a craft room. I want to build a gym in my garden next year…
And this year we build vertically. Up and up. Against a wall or stacking pots on eachother.
And this is my photo shoot day with my ideas – but not at my summer house. This time we used my balcony of 2×2 meters.
Welcome to the concrete jungle. I of course have plants here over the winter, but I put them aside so we could get a whole new concept from scratch.
Living on the top floor – thank god for elevators.
Staff from Plantagen came to help get my flowers in proper pots.
Flowers everywhere.
Where should grumpy beagle Ellie be??
Starting to arrange everything. Where to put the apple tree?
Checking lights. How is the Swedish summer, really?
“How’s my hair?”
And finally – the proper photos. All pictures below by Frida Ström for Plantagen
A lush summer feeling. Mixing various flowers in pots. I love the mixing, the wild sensation. Not a proper line with only lavender. I love lavender – but mix it up.
Can you have grass on your balcony sill? Absolutley. I love “wrong” plants.
Akleja or Aquilegia is a wild flower that can almost be tamed…
Here you can sense that I wanted plants and flowers being low – and high. A total mix. Also a lot of edible things. Far right you see a blueberry bush, and apple tree – and of course a lot of spices. And strawberries on the table.