Guide
Gardening: put in the work now and reap the benefits in the summer
by Aurel Stevens
Better pet than plant parent? These are the balcony shrubs for you
14.5.2025
Pictures: Darina Schweizer
I want plants for my new, sunny balcony. But they’ve got to be low-maintenance, cat-friendly and able to withstand heat and cold. Does such a thing even exist? Yep. These robust beauties passed the test.
I’m lazy when it comes to plants. That’s why for years I’ve only had succulents indoors. If you forget to water them for a week, they’ll still be perfectly upright. What about plant diseases? No chance. They’re also safe for my cats and they fit in perfectly with the beach house style in my new flat.
I finally have a balcony. Obviously, if I’d wanted, I could have put succulents out here. Don’t mess with the system, you say? Not quite. It’s hard to find succulents that are non-toxic to pets and also hardy. I don’t have space to keep them inside over winter.
So I thought outside the pot and came across the following Mediterranean plants:
The only slight drawback is that when I repotted my olive tree after its journey by post, it lost almost all its leaves for a while – probably due to stress. It can also be quite sensitive to draughty locations and wet «feet». However, mine recovered quickly.
Shrubby cinquefoil
As commercial olive trees rarely flower and produce little nectar, I was still looking for a bee-friendly plant, which is how I ended up with the Dasiphora fruticosa. Also known as Potentilla fruticosa, this plant grows white, pink, yellow, orange or red flowers, depending on the variety. In my case, the buds opened just a few days after I moved in. Enchanting!
And best of all, the Dasiphora fruticosa is very robust. Not only does it survive repotting without any problems, it’s also meant to cope well with the cold. All it needs to do is shake off its white coat when it snows. It also defies the summer sun. Or rather, it thrives in heat. The brighter the location, the more flowers it’ll produce. My sunny balcony is testament to this.
But why on earth is it sacred? Because it’s virtually spared from plagues such as pests? Maybe. However, the right answer can be found in its scented leaves. In times of great poverty, altar boys burned it in churches instead of incense. It was also used in popular medicine as a herb, such as for intestinal parasites. Today it can be used to prevent moths or be smoked.
But you don’t necessarily have to be spiritually minded. With its sun-shaped flowers, this cotton lavender will impassion even the most atheist of balconies. It also attracts the odd furry miniature angel. Erm, I mean bees, of course.
Rosemary, thyme, (sage)
Staying on the food theme, these traditional herbs of Mediterranean origin can brave both heat and cold. Rosemary, thyme and sage are particularly low-maintenance and also non-toxic for pets. Ideally, you’ll want to buy organic quality (site in German) plants.
Recently, I’ve started sprinkling my homegrown thyme and rosemary over all my meals. The only disappointment is the sage. It starts to droop in the pot after just one or two warm days without water. So if I was choosing drought-resistant balcony plants again, I wouldn’t pick sage.
Which balcony plants could you not live without? Let us know in the comments!
Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI love anything with four legs or roots - especially my shelter cats Jasper and Joy and my collection of succulents. My favourite things to do are stalking around with police dogs and cat coiffeurs on reportages or letting sensitive stories flourish in garden brockis and Japanese gardens.
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