A balcony that faces the weather can be the best place you own. Light comes in from two sides, rain arrives without you carrying it, and plants that sulk in a shaded courtyard often thrive. But wind changes the rules. It dries compost from the top down, shreds soft leaves, tips pots off ledges and makes a plant that looked sturdy in the shop look ridiculous by August. Most of the problems I see on exposed balconies are not caused by the wind itself. They are caused by the gardener answering the wind in the wrong way.

Misreading the damage

The most common mistake is diagnosing windburn as drought. A plant on a gusty balcony loses water through its leaves faster than its roots can replace it, so the leaf edges go brown and crisp, the buds drop, and the whole thing droops. It looks exactly like a plant that needs a drink. So the water goes in, every day, and the roots sit in soggy compost while the leaves keep burning. A few weeks later the plant collapses from rot and everyone blames the wind.

Learn to tell the two apart. Wind damage usually shows on the exposed side of the plant first, and the browning starts at the leaf margins and tips rather than spreading evenly. Leaves may be torn into ribbons, bent permanently away from the prevailing gust, or snapped at the stem. The compost surface may be blown clear of the pot. Thirst, by contrast, affects the whole plant at once and the compost is genuinely dry a couple of centimetres down. Check both before you reach for the watering can.

Staking too late, and staking too tightly

Staking happens after the plant has already flopped, which is the wrong order. A stem that has bent and thickened in one direction will never quite straighten, and forcing it back into position usually snaps it. Put the support in at potting time, when you can push a cane down the side of the rootball without spearing anything important.

The second half of the mistake is the tie. A plant trussed rigidly to a stake cannot flex, and a plant that cannot flex tends to break at the point where the tie grips it during a gust. You want support with movement, not a straitjacket.

A staking method that survives a gale

1. Insert the cane on the windward side of the stem, close to the edge of the pot so it does not foul the rootball.
2. Leave the top of the cane just below the growing tip, so the plant hides it in a few weeks.
3. Tie in a figure of eight: one loop around the cane, one around the stem, crossing in the middle. This holds the plant without pinching.
4. Use soft twine, horticultural tie or a strip of old tights, never wire.
5. Check ties monthly and loosen them as the stem thickens.

Clumping grasses and bushy perennials rarely need staking at all. If they do, three short canes arranged in a triangle with twine woven around them works better than one tall stake, because it supports the whole clump rather than one stem.

Watering errors the wind encourages

Exposed balconies dry out fast, but the answer is not a fixed daily watering routine. Small pots on a railing, in full sun and moving air, can need water twice a day in July, while a large pot in the corner may still be wet after three days. Water by weight and by feel, pushing a finger into the compost, rather than by the calendar.

A few habits make a real difference. Water in the morning so foliage dries before evening. Water the compost, not the leaves, since wet leaves in moving air are more likely to develop problems. Top the compost with a centimetre of gravel or grit: it slows evaporation, stops the surface blowing away in gusts and keeps liverwort from forming. Group pots together so they shelter each other and share a slightly damper pocket of air. And empty saucers after rain, because a pot standing in water during a hot windy week is a root-rot waiting room.

One more thing. When windburn appears, resist the urge to compensate with extra feeding. A struggling plant given a strong liquid feed pushes soft new growth, and soft new growth is the first thing the next gust destroys.

Buying plants that were never going to cope

Garden centres are sheltered places, and a plant that looks immaculate indoors in April can be in pieces by June on a fourth-floor balcony. Big, thin, soft leaves shred. Tall annuals with heavy flower heads snap. Anything labelled as a houseplant, however tempting, is usually the wrong choice outdoors.

Silver and grey leaves, narrow leaves that twist, and small leathery leaves are all useful clues: these are often adaptations to dry, bright, airy places. Reliable candidates for exposed balconies include:

• Mediterranean herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage, winter savory, lavender. They want sharp drainage and plenty of light.
• Grasses: Festuca glauca and Stipa tenuissima move with the wind instead of fighting it.
• Coastal toughnuts: Armeria maritima, santolina, sedum, sempervivum.
• Shrubs: Euonymus japonicus, hebe and, in milder areas, pittosporum.
• Flowers that forgive: pelargoniums and hardy geraniums. They may batter a little, but they come back.

If you cannot resist something tender, give it the calmest corner you have, behind a barrier and away from the railing. Half a balcony's worth of shelter is often the difference between survival and a pile of stems.

Pots that take off, and other avoidable accidents

Wind does not need to be dramatic to move a pot. A light plastic container on a railing top, a tall pot with a shrub acting as a sail, a saucer that fills with water and starts sliding: these are the things that end up on the street below. Put the heaviest pots at floor level, the lightest ones low down and out of the gust, and stop stacking pots to gain height.

Secure rail planters with proper brackets fixed into sound material, and empty them before stormy weather to reduce both weight and windage. Avoid hanging baskets that can swing freely. If you want to fix anything to the building, the railings or the balcony floor, check that you are allowed to and that the fixing suits the material; when in doubt, ask whoever manages the building rather than drilling and hoping.

Shelter that works, and shelter that becomes a sail

A solid screen is the classic mistake. A sheet of plastic, a bamboo roll or a rigid panel stops the wind on its own face and sends it over the top in a tumble of turbulence, which does more damage than the original breeze. It also catches the wind like a sail and puts real load on whatever is holding it.

Use a permeable windbreak instead: netting or mesh with roughly half its area open, stretched taut on a frame. Place it on the side the wind usually comes from, and take it to about half the height of the plants behind it, so the air is slowed rather than stopped. Leave a small gap between the screen and any wall, and never wrap the balcony completely. Air that cannot move encourages damp, mould and fungal problems. A row of pots, a trellis with a tough climber, or taller plants at the exposed edge can do the same job with less fuss.

A short routine for exposed balconies

After a windy spell, spend five minutes on the basics. Check every tie and stake, and re-tie anything that has slipped. Turn pots a quarter turn so plants do not grow permanently lopsided. Feel the compost in each pot rather than trusting the surface, and clear any saucer that is holding water. Snip off shredded leaves and broken stems cleanly, since ragged tissue invites rot. Look at the fixings on rail planters and brackets. Then leave everything alone for a week or two and see what recovers.

Wind is not the enemy on a balcony. It is simply a condition you plant for. Choose tough species, water with your hand in the compost, support early and loosely, and shelter with mesh rather than walls. Do those four things and an exposed balcony turns into the sunniest, healthiest growing space in the building.

Photo: 12019 / Pixabay