Unless you're making an effort to contain the view within the patio area itself--as you would in an interior room--I'd disregard the advice about having a "focal point" and consider the view to the outside world, the "objet d' vu." Using greenery to frame the view could be a nice feature. The plants could be more or less out of the way and rather than BE a feature, just be the edge to the "windows" that are already there. A climbing vine such as heavenly blue morning glory, moonvine, or Mandevilla or something capable of climbing a cord trellis would work, The "trellis" could be hung on a couple of stout hooks in the wood ceiling members. The hooks could remain permanently but the cord trellis could be lifted off and removed as necessary. As a practical concern, a planter needs to be large enough to support plant life in a healthy manner, but other than that, not having it any larger than necessary would help preserve balcony space. A half-round planter such as the one pictured below could work for the center post. Quarter-round planters are hard to find, so you could use anything that's compatible, and probably narrower, for the outer walls. Some shade tolerant, blooming annuals planted around the outer edge of the planter (begonias, lobelia or something along those lines) would spill over its edge and be a nice touch, too. I like that the rail and pickets have a light/view filtering effect rather than act as a complete screen to the lower portion of the view. If they were mine, I'd prefer not to cover them to any appreciable degree with foliage.

Yes, as you mentioned Chisue, there is always the chance of running into a rabid animal (of any kind) and we do exist very closely with nature out there, so we are always on the watch for wild animals. Flamingo, you make my one little bat 'close encounter' seem like not so much at all! And, of course it really isn't. We just need to find a way to encourage him to sleep elsewhere. They certainly do make a lot of droppings for one small animal, don't they? I was going to wipe the table off, to set our ice water on it, and there were tons of little black things on it. First, I thought they were debris from one of the trees back there. Then I was thinking, these look a lot like mouse poop, wonder how that would get here. And at that point, Gary noticed the bat immediately above!! Rhizo, that's exactly what I was thinking about him coming back. I did look on Amazon.com and there do market umbrella covers. I'm thinking that one of them might do the trick, if it fits closely and is snug at the bottom. Leaving the umbrella up isn't really an option, since we don't live out there and wouldn't be around to go out and take it down if a strong wind came up. So if the cover doesn't work, we might have to go with taking it down and only putting it back up when we're there on the weekend or during an evening.

What direction are the balconies facing? Do they get full sun? Partial sun? Any vine would be perfect for climbing along the rail, including morning glory, moon flower, or nausturium. Cypress vine would also work. Those geramiums are best appreciate from below the balcony... still, what you can grow depends on light and how frequently you can water the plants (willing to water daily??)

Hey KEN, thanks for your insights. Those R4 steel shelves are 41" high and about 36" wide, weight 36 lbs., so it seems very stable. They are about the same height as the top of the railing. I also intend to velcro-strap the uprights of the shelving units to the railing, so it won't be going anywhere. The fabric grow pots I chose have handles on each side. I'm thinking I could bungee cord through the handles and around the wires forming the shelf to anchor the top shelf's plants. There is like 15" between the middle shelf and the top shelf, leaving ample room to get in there to water, remove bad leaves, etc. And there is 17" between the bottom and middle shelves, leaving plenty of room between the middle shelf and the top of the bottom shelf's plants. I spoke with the leasing manager today, to confirm my calculations about the actual working space within the balcony railings, which turns out to be about 6'. I'll have to put one shelving unit on the eastern narrow end and and one in the corner of the front railing. While speaking to the leasing manager, I found out that we are allowed to hang plants from the railing as well. So cool! So that's where I can add in some annuals for a bit of color pop. She also confirmed that lots of people grow lots of different kinds of plants on the balconies, and that my apartment is located on the side which gets more sun on the balconies. I will box up all the hostas & heuchies the day before I move and head out the the Greyhound station on Long Island. They have a Greyhound Express package service which is actually very reasonable. I can ship the boxes of plants and have them delivered to my door in about 3 days. Perfect!