I really think you should ask this question on the Texas forum. Even though I am in zone 6, I had plants that got scorched in my window boxes because of the glass reflection and the enclosed area; so I went to the Texas forum and asked what to plant. I remember the main suggestions were salvia, lantana, and portulaca. But I'm sure they will have other suggestions, too. It is a *very* friendly forum, if you don't already know that :-)

Thanks Meg. I started to post this in the TX forum, but most of the posts seem to be about gardening in the ground so I thought I would try here first.
Lydia

I don't think that there's actually a formula for figuring out what 'full sun' equals for Texas as opposed to anywhere else... I think those labels are fairly vague anyway (no matter where you live) and you just have to use some trial and error. Personally, though, I would say you have 'full sun' on your front balcony and 'part sun' at the back. I would plant your part sun and shade stuff toward the back; if any of it looks like it's craning for the light, nudge it forward a bit.

You could probably move your chives and bay tree a little further back if they're wilting. Both of those will tolerate more shade.

I can reccommend plants though, if you're still wanting to fill space. Meg made some great suggestions too (I think the lantana would be great).

For the full sun:
Mesembriyanthemum or delospermum (ice plant)
Bouganvilla
Succulents or small agaves
Sanseveria (snake plant)
Ornamental grasses, lemongrass
Geraniums (the scented-leaf ones seem especially drought tolerant)
Santolina
Small yucca or red yucca, aloes
The sans, succulents, lemongrass and yuccas will actually tolerate a little more shade if you want to place them more to the back.

If you have specific plants you want to put out there, trot out the names, and I'll hazard some guesses on where to start them. I lived in Austin for a while. (Miss it a lot, actually!)

Greetings!! I am in the same spot as you neighbor! I also live in austin and only have a balcony to garden on. Here is what I have learned- only thru my experience, books, though they have been quite helpful, but only Texans know how Texas weather is !

I get sun from 2-7 pm. This is considered full sun. I have spots on my balcony that only get two hours of late sun. Here in Texas, this is considered full sun. There are many plants I love that need shade. well I put them in a dark sopt and they get the splashings of sunlight during the afternoon. This is prefect for them. I hide my smaller shade plants behind my bigger pots and this is where they do best- they get the splashings of sun, but not too much heat. Beware of sensitive plants in the hot afternoon heat- we ain't seen nuthin yet!

I just say play around with your placement until the plants seem to perk up. I am finding myself watering my annuals (which aren't really annuals in Texas) twice a day. Especailly when they wilt in the afternoon.

I am a big fan of filtered light thru bigger plants and pots for sensitive plants. Keep moving them around, you will find them a good spot. Good luck and have fun!!!

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

You can have your nasturtiums, parsely and cilantro in the winter. If you start them from seed (it's hard to find herbs in the fall sometimes) do it around October. (Parsely seeds are notoriously hard to germinate; I keep them in the fridge in a jar, and I've never had trouble with them that way. I guess it fools them into thinking that winter has passed.) They'll be at their peak in the early spring, March-April.

As for the lemon balm, it can work! The herb garden at Hermann Park here downtown has huge clumps of it. I have a small patch myself in one of my roof containers. It sort of pokes its head up all enthusiastic in the spring, then pouts through the summer. But, it has survived for three years, which is more than I can say about a lot of the plants I put out there. It would probably do better if it wasn't for the reflected heat; so if you could give it a tad more shelter it would probably work well for you. (My biggest disappointment was that that the tea it makes lacks body. I hear that it's good mixed with lemon grass and/or lemon verbena, which round out the flavor.)

The potato vine (aren't they gorgeous?) and the bay tree could work... the bay will appreciate extra moisture, as long as it isn't waterlogged. On the other hand, the vines also get big old sweet-potato roots, which might make them bad bedfellows. I've seen them growing in pretty direct sun, so you'd have some flexibility as to whether you'd want to put them in the sun or shade. A sun-loving coleus would work well too, just make sure it doesn't dry out too much and doesn't get too battered by the wind. I've seen gorgeous coleus grown in Texas.

For the bottom of the bay tree... hmm... strawberry begonia, maybe? They're often sold as houseplants, saxifragia stolonifera. They have interesting foliage (Green with pale white lines above, red speckles underneath) and spread by little runners but aren't pushy, they like it fairly dry and take part sun to mostly shade.

Since you're into culinaries, there are some kind of dual-purpose herbs that also have attractive flowers: mexican mint marigolds and pineapple sage. I don't know about the bees through. There's also aztec sweet herb, which is too camphoraceous to use as an edible but takes the heat/drought really really well. It's a modest trailer with little thimble-like clusters of white flowers that might be pretty with a showier ornamental in a hanging basket or box.

Wax begonias, though ubiquitous, are fairly drought tolerant and will take anything from full sun to deep shade. Come to think of it, they're edible too (the flowers) though I wouldn't eat any that were commercially grown... often they'll perrenialize so you might wait a year or two before using them as a garnish. Most of them have tinted foliage (bronze, red, even pink-bordered leaves) and I don't think they attract a lot of bees. That could work around your bay tree too.

Thanks Whytephoenix! I am going to the nursery on Sat to look around, so I will check out some of these. I was thinking about Mexican mint marigold, as a substitute for tarragon (although I never really cooked with it before, I have lots of recipes that call for it. I wanted the lemon balm for tea, (supposed to be relaxing) so maybe I will get some lemon verbena too. Well I am off to look up the other things!

Thanks again,
Lydia

BTW, I see you are in Houston. Do you ever go to Buchannons in the Heights? The friends who got me started in this whole gardening thing used to work there.

Hi, I want a nice balcony with plants an flowers, I have sun since 7am - 11am, I am in the 2nd floor, in the corner not much air. What do you recomend?
thanks!
Jordana