What a pleasure to have some nature on your facade in order to decorate the street and encourage biodiversity in the city! With climbing plants and window boxes, everyone can have their own small garden.
Nature on the balcony
Window sills, terraces and balconies can easily accommodate pots or window boxes in order to bring colourful touches to the street! Bellflowers, anemones, geraniums, alstroemeria, carnations, primroses, lavender, and more. The range of shapes and colours of perennials which are happy in pots is infinite, and they flower year after year!
Taking over facades
There is a host of climbing plants adapted to our climate that can decorate your facade. Ask the municipality for authorisation to remove one or two pavement slabs and plant honeysuckle, clematis, hops or even a vine: a delight for the eyes and for butterflies! However, avoid plants with suckers, such as ivy, which damage old cement joints.
Even on roofs
On a flat roof, you can even install a green roof. Much more pleasant on the eye, green roofs are ideal for all sorts of wild plants and even help to regulate the flow of rainwater.
Good ideas
- Some municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region offer grants for installing climbing plants, window boxes on facades and floral balconies, or even the creation of a green roof. Ask for information from your municipal administrative services.
- The "Green neighbourhoods" operation by the non-profit association Inter-Environnement helps neighbourhood committees to greenify their facades: www.quartiersverts.be (FR)
