Low maintenance balcony plants are ideal if you want some greenery but don’t have the time, energy or knowledge to keep demanding plants alive. While fake plants are an obvious choice, nothing beats real greenery.

Picking the right outdoor plants depends on the climate and your needs, among other things. Here’s what you should think about before filling your balcony with plants.

If your climate is warm enough, you could get away with using indoor plants on your balcony. You might have to bring them indoors over the colder months, but it’ll open up your options for decorating your balcony.

This might seem like a strange consideration, but are you buying the plant for anything in particular? Generally, you’ll either be buying it for decoration or for privacy.

For decorative plants, consider ones that flower or have interesting foliage. For a privacy plant, you’ll want something fast-growing and bushy. Or, you can go with a fake privacy plant!

Spider plantsYou can’t go too wrong with spider plants. Often seen as the most beginner-friendly foliage, they’re very forgiving if you forget to water them. Check out our article on the best spider plants for some inspiration.

PothosPothos is another beginner-friendly houseplant. While they’ll need more watering than some, they don’t need pruning and can grow fairly large. A pothos looks great in a hanging pot, and you can generally leave it to do its thing.

Cacti and succulentsLike aloe, this is another one for warm climates. There’s no point in specifying certain cacti, as they’re all super easy to grow. As desert plants, they need almost no water and will thrive in bad soil.

Rubber treeA rubber tree is pretty low maintenance, providing your balcony is warm enough. They can get pretty big and, like the other entries here, thrive on neglect. Throw some water at them every so often, and they’ll be perfectly happy.

CaladiumCaladium is very suitable to be placed on the balcony because it requires quite a lot of sunlight. But you still need to pay attention not to overdo it, because excessive sunlight will make the plants scorch, wither, and dry out.

MonsteraYou can place monstera plants on the balcony without worrying. Watering this plant every 1-2 weeks. Allow the monstera soil to dry between watering. Finally, don’t forget to give nutritional fertilizers so that the monstera grows healthy and fresh.

CalatheaBecause Calathea doesn’t like direct sunlight, a balcony with curtains is the right spot for the Calathea. It also likes moist soil, so you can try a mixture of 50 percent soil, 20 percent orchid bark, 20 percent charcoal, and 10 percent perlite.

Boston Fern PlantYou can put it hanging on a moss ball or placed on a balcony wall shelf. This plant likes humid temperatures, so make sure to water it on time, so it doesn’t dry out and die easily.