Think big: why one super-sized plant in a large pot can make all the difference to a small balcony garden

A large pot with a single wow-factor plant - rather than lots of little succulents - makes even a small balcony feel grand.
MMGI / Marianne Majerus
Alex Mitchell7 September 2018

Swiss cheese plants, rubber plants and fiddle-leaf figs have taken over our homes and now millennials are taking the look outside. A sculptural plant or two in carefully positioned pots can look spectacular.

Wyevale Garden Centres has seen sales of mature plants rise 25 per cent thanks to demand from buyers who want instant impact, rather than waiting for plants to grow.

People with little space at home often avoid large pots and plants, but if you keep everything small it makes the space feel smaller. A single pot with a big palm, succulent or other diva plant in it makes even a small balcony feel grand. Think large pots with single wow-factor specimens rather than lots of little containers crammed with a combination.

London designer Manoj Malde is no stranger to creating exotic drama in the garden. His Beneath a Mexican Sky Garden at RHS Chelsea in 2016 was an uplifting desert riot, with huge agaves and other spiky stars against orange and pink walls.

“We’ve had all this very English muted tone for such a long time,” says Malde. “I think the younger generations have got a bit bored of that. We want something a bit more vivid that reminds us of holidays in Ibiza.

“I would sooner have fewer really large pots rather than loads of little ones. If people were to add up the amount of money they spend on lots of little pots they might as well buy a few nice big ones instead.”

He recommends Bronzino for large metal pots that aren’t too heavy to carry. “Plant one with canna striata and it would look amazing. Quite honestly on a balcony or small terrace you wouldn’t need anything else.”

If you love house plants there is an outdoor plant to match it, super-sized. Swiss cheese plant fans will love the glossy foliage and starburst flowers of fatsia japonica, the silvery arching leaves of melianthus major or soft, feathery cascade of mahonia Soft Caress, all beautiful shrubs that will thrive outside in a large pot for years and fill a balcony corner.

“Fatsia is a brilliant bet,” says Malde. “You’ll instantly get that tropical lush look and it will be happy in a large pot.”

A brilliant bet: Fatsia japonica Spider's Web will be happy outside in a pot
Garden World Images Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

If the glossy, scalloped leaves of fiddle-leaf fig float your boat, go for cannas outside. Malde recommends Durban’s “paddle-shaped burgundy leaves with lovely orange stripes” or canna striata, a rich green with yellow stripes.

Pack in three to a large pot on a sheltered balcony. The plants will die down over winter but will survive in London to re-emerge next year.

If spiky house plants are your thing bring the shapes outside with huge phormiums.​ Malde recommends Maori Queen with a burgundy leaf and orange streaks. Dasylirion makes a spiky orb.

Other grasses make great focal-point pots, too — try bluey-green Panicum virgatum Heavy Metal or red-tipped Shenandoah, says Malde.

Those who fill their shelves with air plants and succulents can take it up a level outdoors with multi-headed yucca rostrata and cordyline australis. Or how about a puya with silvery green foliage? Or go all out with fascicularia bicolor, a silvery-leaved bromeliad that turns completely red in the middle when it flowers.

Agaves, cycads and the fan palm Chamaerops humilis are other sure-fire bets for outdoor potted drama, says Malde. But more traditional garden plants can work magic, too.

Robinias are usually seen as a small garden tree, but their chartreuse foliage looks stunning in pots. Or give the red hot poker a container reinvention. Those flaming red, orange and yellow flower spikes look sensational against a white wall.

A beauty on the balcony: a windmill palm, or Trachycarpus fortunei, is all you need to fill the corner, uplit for more pizzazz
Getty Images/iStockphoto

Commission Manoj Malde: manojmaldegardendesign.co.uk

FOR POTS

Bronzino: bronzino.co.uk

World of Pots: worldofpots.com

FOR PLANTS

Wyevale Garden Centres: wyevalegardencentres.co.uk for your nearest London centre

Palm Centre, Richmond: palmcentre.co.uk

The Palm Tree Company: thepalmtreecompany.com