Plants in A Space to Read Balcony Garden sponsored by Viking

Broadly conical in shape, this large shrub or small tree produces tiny green flowers in June, which are surrounded by showy, creamy-white, petal-like bracts, that fade to lovely shades of pink as they age. In autumn the dark green leaves turn crimson-purple, and mature trees produce strawberry-like fruits. It’s an excellent specimen tree for a small garden or woodland edge, and the leaf colour is best in fertile, well-drained, neutral to acid soil.

An evergreen, clump-forming perennial with large, round, hairy leaves, tinged red early in the season. In spring, red stems bear white flowers that age to pink. Leaves may be damaged by frost, but fresh ones are produced in spring.

Ever popular, this plant is smothered in showy clusters of pure white, sweet pea-like flowers from June to September among grey-green leaves. A vigorous, perennial climber, it looks lovely scrambling over a sunny wall or through a hedge or evergreen shrub, although initially it needs to be tied into supports. Unlike the annual sweet pea, it has no fragrance.

A compact herbaceous perennial, with pale green basal leaves, deeply divided with lobed segments, and pure white, saucer-shaped flowers in late spring and early summer.

A deciduous shrub to around 1.5m tall and wide with divided green foliage that may turn red in autumn. Semi-double, golden-yellow flowers.