Growing spaces: balcony

Velvet crested heads that hold colour for weeks, in sun or half shade.

The most reliable cut flower for an Indian summer terrace.

Edible flowers and leaves, and a magnet that pulls aphids off your vegetables.

Opens in full sun on a terrace where nothing else will survive noon.

Big-leaved and happy in a wet corner; corms below, edible leaves above.

Plant single cloves in October and lift whole bulbs in March.

A Himalayan ginger relative with scented white flowers and aromatic rhizomes.

The small-flowered jasmine of the monsoon, sweeter at dusk than at noon.

Bush beans for winter troughs; pole kinds for a balcony net.

Roots below, usable leaves above, and it tolerates a container better than carrot.