Balcony container gardens create refuge from remodel

Joan Kotker is well aware that her Bellevue condo is a shrine to 1970s style.

She delights in pointing out design flaws to visitors, opening folding doors that disguise a wet bar and noting the wooden parquet flooring. She announces that the trash compactor is broken.

While that dated style will disappear when Kotker, 68, and her husband, Dave Kotker, 67, remodel their 2,000-square-foot space to coordinate with their minimalist taste, Kotker longed for some immediate design satisfaction.

"I was so depressed by all of this," she said. "I wanted to get something accomplished."

She turned to the only space available: her two balconies. Though she is not a gardener, Kotker wanted to make those spaces lush and reflective of her modern style.

So she looked for a professional with the help of Lake Washington Technical College's horticulture program and was referred to recent graduate Catherine Saylor.

Design challenge

Container design isn't as flexible as traditional garden design, and Kotker's balconies had inherent challenges like weight limitations and varying sun exposure. Sunshine bakes the second-floor balcony, while the downstairs balcony stays shady.

Kotker wanted the design to cover up visual distractions like a neighboring hotel and an adjacent house but wanted to preserve a view of Bellevue's skyline.

Landscape designer Saylor took those concerns into consideration and also made sure she incorporated the Kotkers' style into the design so that the balconies meshed with the planned remodel.

"That's an important concept to me that it becomes an outdoor living space," Saylor said. "They have a contemporary... influence on the interior and wanted to make sure that went outside as well."

Saylor, based in Redmond, picked plants that would cycle through foliage changes year-round to keep the containers visually interesting and limit the work for Kotker.

The containers include plants with different leaf shapes and sizes in rich greens and purples, including black mondo grass, bronze New Zealand flax, leather leaf sedge and Bressingham ruby heartleaf bergenia.

The containers vary in size and shape, and Saylor also used simple trellises with decorative leaves, which gave the balconies architectural shape. Vines will grow up the trellises to add greenery to the landscape and block unsightly views. Simple black chairs and side tables finish the look.

The result

The lush balconies have become a refuge. Kotker, a retired English teacher for Bellevue Community College, and Dave Kotker, retired from Boeing, retreat in the evenings to the second-floor balcony to read mysteries and drink champagne.

The project, which cost roughly $1,700 for 14 containers, the trellises and design time, has given Kotker some relief.

It will take years to finish the interior remodel, but now, Kotker says, she has an escape.

"It's given me something very aesthetically pleasing to enjoy while everything else is in flux."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com