Pot Gardening

I'd be cautious about any bulb plants if either of your pets are diggers. Many of the bulbs are seriously poisonous to dogs - and given the size and proclivities of your dog I'd be very cautious about the use of bulbs in a balcony planter. Will the pets be supervised when they're on the balcony?

Well, if there was a tall pot...

but I'm chary of bulbs for another reason, in that they are transient pleasures. Depends on how much room is on the balcony.

Wait, though, that reminds me. Iris neomarica. Now there is a gorgeous plant. It's not really an iris. I'm not sure it's even a bulb. Giant tall leaves, that don't crump, at least in areas sans freezing. Flowers like purple birds..
Will look it up and be back. My business partner had one in a huge pot...

But now that reminds me of flax. Phormium in pots, again, lots of varieties out there.

OK, that is known as Neomarica. It is in the iris family. I guess the "walking" pods are bulbs. None of the photos I find are as gorgeous as my friend's plant but that makes sense, her yard was a major delight. She had it, in my memory, in at least a 24 and maybe 28 " high pot, and the leaves reached another three and more feet.

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Neomarica

Some of this depends on taste/nature of the space. Phormium, for example, can be very 'high tech' looking. Used a lot in southern california against grey stucco walls... which can be gorgeous with the more colorful varieties. The problem with Phormium, when it was introduced en masse to california in the eighties, is that the sellers had no clue how big any variety might grow in california, and some of them far outshot their supposed mature height.

Mums are rugged enough to winter over
in the garage in zone 5. This view was taken back
in April when it was just brought outdoors.
Dead, dried out stems are trimmed away:


click on image: It's been trimmed back once since then
and will be trimmed once again to maintain a compact size
before blooming time.

Today it's blooming its heart out, giving
us a last show of blooms before the killer frost.



Afterward it'll be trimmed and watered before wintering over
in the garage for the second time, during which time its soil will
be kept damp throughout the winter.