The Balcony Scene
Two years ago, Gloria Hickman sat on a barren cedar deck that covered half of the garage attached to her Corona del Mar condominium. She gazed at the few scanty plants struggling to survive in containers she’d planted in a vain attempt to beautify the space, which was clearly visible from the attached guest room.
After a few futile attempts, she convinced her husband, Superior Court Commissioner Gale P. Hickman, to bring in professional help to renovate the area.
The transformation was dramatic.
Now, the 15-foot by 23-foot rooftop is a lush garden containing 11 redwood planters of various shapes and sizes filled with robust greenery, graceful vines, fragrant flowers and a rose-covered arbor where a terra-cotta lion’s head fountain adds the graceful sounds of water to an urban retreat.
“We like our neighbors, but it’s nice to have a private space for relaxing and entertaining,” Gloria Hickman said. “If we’d known how nice this was, we would have done it a long time ago.”
Hickman admits that she wanted to join the swelling ranks of garden hobbyists and had already utilized the atrium and patio space available at her condo. Fortunately, the 60-unit condo complex was designed so the garage roofs could be accessed via a sliding glass door leading from an adjacent bedroom. Many of the owners had installed simple decking for the rooftops.
Hickman hired contractor Dave Benson of Newport Beach, who replaced the cedar decking with redwood to cover the entire surface. He enclosed the space with trellising, installed water, electricity and a drainage system and constructed the redwood planters.
Then Hickman enlisted the help of Anne Roth, who heads Colorscape, the landscape design division of Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar. Roth guided the fledgling gardener with design, plant selections and installation. Hickman maintains the garden herself and enjoys experimenting with different types of seasonal annuals, herbs and roses.
“This is a thrill for a new gardener who’s never had a yard,” said Hickman.
The vine-clad trellising creates a definite sense of privacy, and the space is both visually enticing and appealing. A glass-topped patio table with umbrella and four chairs occupies the sunny center. An inviting chaise longue provides a quiet nook for relaxing under the arbor, colorfully clad with Cl. Cecile Brunner roses, fragrant stephanotis, wisteria and blood-red trumpet vine (Distictis buccinatoria).
The planters surround the perimeter and are packed with culinary and aromatic herbs, foundation perennials and seasonal annuals.
Plants such as artemesia Powis Castle and phormium Maori Queen add foliage variation. Dwarf citrus, star jasmine, gardenias, trailing rosemary and several varieties of lavender add more fragrance.
Roth and Hickman selected red and orange as the primary color scheme, accented with punches of white and blue, in harmony with the home’s interior furnishings.
“When creating balcony gardens, it’s very important to extend the interior decor outside,” Roth said. ‘The Hickman garden has a Spanish-Italian influence to complement the condo design and interior decorations.”
Bougainvillea Orange King and B. San Diego Red dominate the garden. Their colors are repeated in planters filled with trailing nasturtiums and highlighted with red miniature roses. Roses Double Delight, Broadway and Iceberg fill several more planters, and lobelia Blue Moon adds blue accents.
A wide shelf fastened to the perimeter trellising holds a multitude of 15-gallon decorative French pots that raise the color to eye level. They hold fragrant yellow-blossomed Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium supervirens), fuchsia Gardenmeister, dwarf Myer lemon trees and African iris (Moraea iridioides).
Additional pots are clustered at various sites in the small garden.
All containers rest on decorative frogs to permit drainage. Once a year, maintenance includes lifting the decking--the boards are screwed down--so the drains can be cleaned from any root systems that may have accumulated.
“This is really an easy garden to maintain,” Hickman said. “There are no weeds, and I enjoy grooming and deadheading the plants and replacing them with new ones when necessary.”
At night, an elaborate lighting system accents the plants and fountain with decorative shells, bells and spotlights.
“We spent close to $15,000 to renovate the space and love it so much that we would have done so if it had cost twice as much,” Hickman said.
Not all balcony gardens need to be as elaborate.
Recently, Roth designed a simple collection of large and small containers for Don Lorentzen. His Newport Beach condominium provides dramatic ocean views, so Roth designed the two balconies with what she terms “a beachy look” with white decorative pots clustered on the white tile of the balconies attached to the living room and master bedroom.
Lorentzen is a retired Marine, confined to a wheelchair, and wanted a low-maintenance planting that included some flowers. Liriope surrounded with trailing blue lobelia, begonia Richmondensis, ficus and pigmy date palm (Phoenix roebelenii) are the foundation plants. Ageratum, alyssum and pansies provide colorful accents.
“I really love the flowers, and they blend with the view,” Lorentzen said. “Nature makes your life nicer.”
