The millennials, also known as Generation Y, might be a tech-savvy generation but many appreciate the need to keep in touch with plants, soil and nature.
Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, are avid plant parents. They’re filling their city homes, apartments and town houses with house plants to improve air quality and have brought succulents, including cacti, back into fashion.
Millennial plantfluencers have gained a huge following on social media and share pictures and tips on growing and caring for plants. Where book clubs were once the rage, the modern trend is a “plant swop”, where plant enthusiasts meet personally to swop cuttings and pups of their favourite plants.
Many Millennials also grow their own foods on balconies and in small plots and use gardening as a means of relaxation.
Small-space gardening
You can create a garden just about anywhere - from a window box to an apartment balcony or town house patio. An unused area of a larger garden can be turned into a functional space.
Small space gardening is about utilising your home space to maximum effect. Your space might be limited, but by using the boundaries and going vertical, you can greatly increase it.
The secret lies in repetition to create cohesion. Choose a colour scheme to create continuity in the space. You can also choose a theme to link elements, like nautical, African or Japanese design.
Clever tricks with colour can be utilised to create an illusion of space.
Consider “flooring” options for the small garden. Alternate lawn with paving, gravel, pebbles or decking to break up solid lines with changing colours.
How can you make the most of a small space garden? Consider these tips:
Look up
Group a collection of terracotta pots together to form a living wall. Picture: McWades
Put up shelving on a brick wall to display pots and other ornaments or re-purpose indoor furniture like a table or old bookshelf to use outdoors. Wood must be sealed to protect it from rain and the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Wall planters, manufactured from canvas or plastic modular systems, can be used to create a living wall for height and a place to grow anything from succulents to vegetables.
Mount pots on a brick wall or reed screening to create vertical interest. Choose low-maintenance trailing ivy-leaf pelargonium varieties for hanging boxes and wall-mounted pots.
Plant climbers to direct the eye skywards. Climbers for small spaces include the wax flower (Hoya spp.), star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), a climbing rose or the pink mandevilla (once known as the Brazilian pink dipladenia).
Before choosing a plant, check how much sun the space receives and how much the plant requires.
‘Gold Bunny’ is a deep yellow climbing rose, suitable for training up trellises, pillars and arches. Picture: Lukas Otto
Hang a mirror
A mirror can be used with great effect in a small garden. The reflection creates the illusion of depth and space.
Wood frames need to be sealed for weather protection and properly fixed to the wall.
Choose narrow mirrors rather than high, wide ones. The latter can confuse birds, who chip away at their reflection, in turn confusing dogs who think there is an intruder.
Paint it smartly
Make your boundary wall a focal feature by painting it a colour of your choice.
Get creative. Paint the lower two-thirds from the bottom in a dark shade, then finish the remaining third in a lighter shade of the same colour.
Or sponsor a young art student to paint up a vista of rolling hills as a holiday job.
Dine alfresco In the smallest of gardens, creating space for a table and chairs provides a place for you to relax with a cup of tea or a glass of wine.
If your space is limited, consider fold-away furniture that you can store easily and use when required.
Grow your own
Vegetables and herbs for the family table can be grown in a fairly compact space. If your balcony garden gets at least six hours of sun per day, you can grow vegetables in containers.
Some herbs do well with less sunlight and can easily be grown on a sunny kitchen windowsill.
Fruit trees like apples, pears, citrus and figs can be espaliered, or trained and pruned, to grow along a courtyard or a town house garden wall.
Give balconies a boost
Re-purpose indoor furniture for outdoor use. Picture: Garden World
First check with your body corporate or landlord if plants are allowed on your balcony. They might have rules regarding the types of pots to be used. Terracotta pots can be very heavy once soil is added but plastic pots are lighter. Also consider hanging baskets for seasonal colour on the balcony.
Before you choose plants, check how much sun your space gets and at which times of the day. For very shaded balconies choose plants that grow in low light, like hosta, begonia, coleus, ferns or the zuzu plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia).
On sunny balconies you can grow African daisies (Osteospermum spp.), roses, succulents or vegetables in containers.