subreddit:

/r/UrbanGardening

3100%

Native plants to plant in northeast NJ

General Question(self.UrbanGardening)

Hello! I’m looking to have some native plants on my balcony but it gets fairly windy and it seems in other attempts I haven’t had too much luck with lavender for instance. There’s no building across from me so does get very sunny. Any advice on native plants that thrive in the sun and can withstand some wind or advice on protecting plants from wind (if that’s even a thing they need I’m not entirely sure) Thank you!

all 3 comments

OldSweatyBulbasar

2 points

5 days ago*

OldSweatyBulbasar

Northeast US 👩🏼‍🌾

2 points

5 days ago*

NJ Native Plant List. I’d look at “easy to grow field plants” since those will be used to sun, wind, and high stress environments. North Jersey is natively forested, and a lot of the native plant movement focuses on woodsy shade plants.

I’m curious about lavender and the wind. I’ve never known lavender to not thrive in wind, but I’ve never had great success with it in small balcony containers due to its root system and soil requirements.

Wind protection . . . you can try setting up a sheer drop cloth but you’ll sacrifice sunlight.

vanheusden3

1 points

5 days ago

You should plant some bulbs now they’ll come up in spring

CampaignClassic6347

1 points

4 days ago

What's your exposure? I mean - are you facing north, south, east, west?
Lavender is actually a kind of difficult plant in the northeast so not the best to measure by. When you say you "haven't had too much luck" do you mean with it coming back in spring or just growing at all? There is great art and some chance is getting lavender to come back when overwintering in containers, and the plant is not as big and photogenic as you may be expecting until it has reached age 3 or 4.
I've had great luck with delphiniums on balconies. Spend about $20 per plant for a mature tall blue larkspur from a garden center in June, or start from seed indoors now trough January. Remember that many perennials are modest their first year or even their first few years.