Seven garden ideas for your apartment balcony by Cyrela

With a little creativity, your apartment balcony can take on the feel of a garden. Get inspired by the ideas presented at Casa Cor São Paulo 2015 1. HANGING GARDEN Does your pet destroy any potted plants left on the floor? Adopt the idea of architect and interior designer, Érica Salguero: the hanging garden. “It’s an architectural solution to add greenery to spaces that are increasingly smaller,” says Érica. 2. ECOLOGICAL PLANTS Praça Casa Cor São Paulo features a conceptual garden with low-water consumption and easy-care plants, such as dracaenas, brown-necked palms and cycads. The idea behind the H2O Project by landscape architects João Jadão and Juliana Freitas is to raise awareness among visitors about the rational use of water. 3. SCENTED SPACE On a shelf or counter, place some small pots of scented plants next to air fresheners and scented candles, as Paulo Gazola does at Espaço Aroma e Cor. In addition to decorating and scenting the space, the aroma of the items spreads throughout the rest of the house when the balcony door is open.

4. WOODEN FURNITURE With increasingly limited space, how about using your balcony as an extension of your living room? A wooden bench with cushions blends in with the open area of the balcony while also serving as a sofa for entertaining guests. The solution is on display at Alameda do Encontro, by architects Luciane Galera and Fernanda Campiolo. 5. ROCKING CHAIR If you think that rocking chairs are something for people much older than you, you'll change your mind when you see the armchairs at Bosque Tropical, created by landscaper Gilberto Elkis. Amidst the 800 m2 of green area, the professional sets up a kind of living room with five spacious, comfortable armchairs that provide a gentle rocking sensation. 6. HOMEMADE SEASONING The lack of a backyard doesn't mean you can't grow herbs. Landscaper Fernanda Pereira de Almeida presents a simple, creative and sustainable way to always have plants like rosemary, basil and peppers on hand: planters that turn into vases, made from market crates. 7. VERTICAL FLOWER BED Transform one of the walls of your balcony – or even both! – into a vertical garden, as shown by landscaper Bia Abreu in Jardim do Lounge. This allows residents and visitors to interact with nature.