April 2010 Empty Balcony as a Blank Canvas

Zone 7a: I am located in western Long Island, a few hundred feet from a salt water bay. My balcony has a western exposure, with a 6' overhang protecting from most sun and rain. The balcony is further protected from the brunt of most weather by another building and mature pear trees (permitting only filtered sunlight in the late afternoon). The outside window box gets direct sun from approximately 11am through 3pm. The balcony dimensions are 6' deep and 13' wide and it is surrounded on 3 sides with an iron railing. Here is what this poor little balcony looked like in late April:



This is really pushing the season and may be too early to plant. Although the nursery stores are crowded, I am aware that the stock is sparse. We have had a few evenings with temps dropping into the high 40’s and ya know what? I don’t care – I’m ready to begin. I have purchased 3 new resin trough planting boxes and 2 resin urns to add to my 20 year old white fiberglass window boxes. Although I do not have any organized plan whatsoever, it is my intention to hang the 3 window boxes over the railing “outside” my balcony space. I am considering the trough boxes for additional plantings and the urns for specimen plants. Here is a short video of the beginning bones of this plan, er, inspiration.