I was telling my grandson about your chocolate scented sunflowers. He was fascinated. He keeps asking me if I've arranged a trade yet. So I figured I better post, before they were all gone. I have some tall cannas--red flower with green leaves. I can email you a photo if you want. These cannas were actually passed down from my dad. They are probably about 25-30 years old--if not older. We've had alot of rain this week--so I can't get into them now. I'll email you and see if we can work something out.

I believe the lantana is spoken for...will post again if it falls through. Peggy

Sweet Peas sound nice, but I've tried them once in an area that was 4hrs of sun a day and didn't have an easy time getting them to grow and they didn't get much height to them. Sparse on the foliage, germination was scetchy. Has that been anyone else's experience or am I doing something wrong? I would enjoy the fragrance. Wonder about a combo of MG and Sweet peas, would that work? I have honeysuckle in another area. I'm not sure of the color of the lantana. The one I had last year was a yellow used in another location, but don't think that yellow would work. Maybe an apricot? The containers they are going in are a sage green. There is a dark mulberry wine color on the gate. So it is not an easy one to work with maybe? I wouldn't have thought of tradescantia. The purple would work. That is a neat idea about the cherry tomato and one I wouldn't have thought of. The mass of a tomato foliage would not work for the effect I am trying to make but were you thinking of training and pruning it? I wonder about later in the season when the foliage can sometimes not look so great. Unless I had a Black Cherry variety, which had wonderful foliage all season last time I tried it and the fruit are a beautiful color, it was very vigorous and would need a lot of pruning. I seem to be imagining the containers and the pots completely covered in flowers. I think the lantana is going to provide a lot of that, but some of the vine choices I keep thinking of and some of the suggestions here, are going to give me a lot of foliage and flowers maybe not so much or small flowers. Except for the Morning Glories which should put on a great display towards the end of the summer. If I end up with the right color that could work. Is there anything else I am forgetting about? Thanks PV and medontdo....great ideas! PM2

Gwynne, Try P. Lutea...... You can google it to find what it looks like and it's qualities, and how to grow it. You also might want to check out the Frequently asked questions section on this forum. There is a whole section on host plants and nectar plants that are good for butterflies. But, the most important thing.............don't be afraid to jump in there and accidentally make a mistake! Everybody has had things croak over dead, or put things in the wrong place or been overwhelmed by choices. Don't beat yourself up if something turns out very wrong, just chalk it up to learning something new. Jump in there....buy some plants.....don't stress..... Your Balcony garden sounds like a ton of fun! Have fun with it! I wish I had gotten started gardening when I lived in an apartment, I waited until I had a "real" garden, but think of all the beauty you will have starting now!