Thanks, lighter and whytephoenix! That is pretty much what I wanted to know. I have moved my bay tree to the back and put my garlic chives behind a larger pot. The last few days have been cloudy, but today the sun was out pretty much all day. The bay was wilted again when I got home. But like I said, they seem to recover once the sun goes down so I guess it will be okay. It is the new leaves that are wilting, the older leaves arent bothered a bit, so if the new leaves dont fry before they get full size I guess they will be okay. I did just realize that there is still some dappled sun till about 7:00 - 7:30, that filters through the trees across the parking lot. The herbs in the front seem to be doing okay. I had an earlier pot of thyme that got very leggy and didnt seem to do too well, but the new one seems to be doing okay. Still a bit leggy though. The lemon thyme must not need as much sun as the english thyme cause it isnt leggy at all. Whytephoenix, I am not sure what else I want to put out there. I am thinking some lemon balm for tea and maybe nasturtiums (although I read a thread that said they dont do much in the heat), but thats about as far as I have gotten. I originally started this whole gardening thing so that I would have fresh herbs to cook with. I want parsley and cilantro, but I thought it would probably be too late to get much before they start bolting. It is already getting into the 80's some days. The only real shady parts are at the bottom of the balcony railing. The lower 21" is solid wood(well something that looks like wood) and maybe gets an hour or so of direct sun in the early afternoon. What I do think I want though, is more color. I hadnt thought much about esthetics cause I mostly wanted stuff to eat. But now that I pretty much have the must haves, I am starting to think more about ornamentals. I do have 2 windowboxes of petunias (debudded right now, cause I am spraying for flower thrips), but everything else is just plain green. I dont want anymore flowers right now because I am terrified of bees, and if the petunias bring around a whole lot of bees I may not be able to take it. A few maybe, but I dont know if my nerves can stand a whole lot of bees flying around me. So I was thinking about trying plants with interesting and/or colorful foliage. The bay is in a 20" pot so I was thinking of planting something around it. It has 3 main branches that start about 4" from the ground, so I thought I could plant something colorful in those spaces, then something low and trailing around the edges (the pot is 18" tall). I saw some coleus at the nursery and really liked them. The lady at the nursery showed me a potato vine. I really like the dark one with the 3 lobed leave and I thought it went well with the coleus. But the bay likes it kinda dry and these say evenly moist so I dont think it would be a good idea to plant it with the bay. But I was thinking of trying them as a combination in a 10" pot. I have a wire shelving unit that is about 5' tall. It is on the south facing wall and one end is in the front of the balcony and the other end toward the back. I have my lemongrass in the middle and I have room for a 10" pot on either side. So I thought I would put combinations of some colorful and medium height plants with something trailing around the front. I know there are some coleus that like sun, but not sure about the potato vine. I also still would like to try something around the bay, but not sure what would like dryish soil in part sun. My balcony is not all that large so I dont have much room left! I have room for a couple more pots on the shelving unit, a trough planter that will have to go in the front, and 2 more 8" pots that I might be able to squeeze in next to my chaise in the back. Any suggestions would be apprieciated (although I found out that there is a foliage forum so maybe I should post there) Thanks for you help though! Lydia

Very possibly fungus gnats which breed readily in potting medium if kept on the moist side. The tiny larvae, which live in the soil, can become a problem for plants if their population is too high. They will feed on the roots. If you mulch your plants with aquarium gravel, the adults will not be able to lay their eggs in the potting soil. Allow your plants to dry out a bit between waterings, if possible. Next year, plan on using a medium with improved porosity, or fix the problem yourself by adding a large percentage of perlite to the mix before potting up.

Hey Janet - BEAUTIFUL pool. I'm glad to see it came in just right for you guys. I'm also in Cypress. Actually, our home is up closer to Tomball (2920 and Cypress Rosehill area), but my law firm is near Jones and Grant. I just had my FIRST meeting with a PB tonight, and we're excited, but COMPLETELY overwhelmed. Do you mind giving me the full name of your PB? If you had a really good experience, I'd love to speak to them and get a bid. I'd to get at least 4 or 5 bids before I pick a PB. My wife and I have an interesting situation in that we have a LOT of room in the back yard (we are on 4/5 acre lot in the forest), but we have two massive trees that we want to work around AND build an appx 800 sq foot outdoor living room/kitchen/bar. We need JUST the right PB to make our pool integrate with our house, our lot, and our forest. We really want to do this right, and it looks like your PB did a great job! (Although I'm very impressed at your design work!)

James , did you ever apply any fungicide besides cornmeal? Lawn looks like its recovered nicely. The reason I ask it I haven been battling dollar spot in my bermuda for the last 2 seasons. Its not to bad like yours was, its just random small circles in areas of my lawn. My lawn has looked great this season and today while mowing I noticed some tiny dead/brown small circles starting to come back again. Ive used propiconazole and it hasnt done anything for me. :(