A wonderful and thorough job! Well done! I agree with Josh... to keep stress to a minimum, you'll want to avoid full sun and winds for a little while... find it a nice protected spot with dappled shade/sun, and keep a close eye on it. If outdoors, I usually look for a spot close to a building for wind protection, where my plants will receive only the earliest of morning sun, and are thereafter protected from the harsh sun of late morning to late afternoon... but I'm sure you're aware of what needs to be done. :-) Indoors, I look for a bright spot that doesn't receive direct sun from a window. After I see the plant recovering, I move it closer to its permanent spot. As time goes by, we find better, easier methods for putting together our medium mixes. It all eventually comes together... whether it's locating the various ingredients, setting up a screening process, mixing, and storing our final product(s). I actually find it kind of fun, not to mention rewarding, working with all the stuff... and when I see how happy my plants look and how they respond to the better drainage, aeration, and the controlled moisture and feeding, I know it was all worth the effort! Before getting to know Al, I can't tell you how frustrating it was to find bulb after bulb just rotting away in its pot, with dead and rotting roots... and no matter how careful I was with watering, it didn't seem to matter. There were no little air pockets for the roots to breathe, and there was no way to relieve the continually soggy rootball area... I tried everything... bottom watering, coco coir, mixing in more perlite... nothing helped. What helped was actually learning how all the factors of container growing related to each other... learning what was actually happening under the soil surface. And now that I know, it's so elementary I'm surprised it's not all common knowledge! To make a long story short, my plants are happy and my bulbs no longer rot! I can't wait until spring arrives so I can transfer my deciduous trees into better medium! They say a picture is worth a thousand words... and in the case of growing show-and-tell, they're worth so much more! The more photos we all share of our processes and our successes, the better the portrayal of how it all works! Anyway... well done! We look forward to more pictures! :-)

Hi Jenny, I'm no where NEAR experienced with this container growing stuff but I have to say I think the clay pots might help, when the problem is the ambient heat of the area as well as direct sun on the pots. Clay does breath so the roots dry out out quicker, but it also insulates the roots from the heat. And since they breathe, it enables you to water MORE without having to worry about roots staying too soggy. And I THINK (maybe Al will chime in on this) it's the temp of the ROOTs that often affect whether the plant takes up water and nutrients. Not the temperature in the air itself. I'm in the San Francisco bay area inland and my summer days get 90-100. My terra cotta pots (citrus mostly) seem to help not bake the roots. The ONLY plant I've ever lost (knock wood) was in plastic. You probably know, but there's another greek poster... goes by the name of "greekman" who has TONS of stuff on his balcony. I think he's in Athens, tho. Don't know where you are. And forgive me if I didn't read your entire post closely... but if you're able to construct some sort of umbrella, canopy, pergola across the top of your balcony that might help with the extreme heat. Oops, I see you said it didn't... but maybe if you went to a thicker shade block, who knows? As far as varieties... one thing I don't recall seeing on your list is figs or citrus or olives... things I always associate in pots in a mediterranean climate. (And they always sell them at our local greek festival every year.) I know nothing about growing those items (well citrus) and definintely NOT growing them in Greece, LOL, but have you tried those? One final thought... I agree with you I find succulents mostly unattractive. But I've beens seeing more and more I like that are drought tolerant and striking and you may be able to find a few varieties you like if it comes to it. Not all are prickly spiky things. Another idea might me some of the big grasses in a pot. Like a new zealand flax. Google the plant name and you'll see how big it gets. I just inherited a huge (like 7' tall one, about 8 years old) in a beautiful pot. It's foliage is striking but it could add height (for shade). Good luck this summer, -k

OK, I took them out of the pots and, following rj11's pruning technique, trimmed up the iffy one. From C&S collection I also brushed all the dirt out from the roots (blutarski was right on - it was quite damp in there) and nipped off soft roots as ltran recommended. From C&S collection I dusted with cinnamon as blutarski suggested, I am a little concerned abt the iffy one - it had a big section of root that had clearly rotted away, leaving a smooth hole in its place. It felt dry and callused, so I dusted it with cinnamon. the area around it also felt firm and dry so I'm hoping it's healed itself. From C&S collection You can see the "hole" in the middle of the root system. I'm leaving them to air out on my shaded patio and I bought two azaelea pots to put them in. I haven't found bonsai mix, but I'm hoping that a *very* light potting mix (at least half perlite, turface and vermiculite) will be the ticket. One final note - it looks like the one in better shape has buds - I hope pulling them out of their pots won't disturb the flowering process - what a treat to have flowers on my brand-new adeniums!!

Well Gang, Thx for the suggestions. I'll admit to only waiting 24 hrs. for a reply, but w/ a declining Hoya, time was of the essense, so Sunday night I repotted the whole darn thing! What a mess indeed, indoors w/out the luxury of a hose, my only choice was to soak the darn thing in a basin, enough so that I could pry all the mix off w/ my fingers. I had tried to do it w/out soaking, but the mix would not break apart. I suspect some parts of the rootball had been drinking while some had not at all (the dried out portions were dry all the way down the branch to dead roots). I ending up taking the entire thing apart, no easy task at all! It was somewhat potbound w/ a mass of fine roots all around the rootball, which was virtually unseparatable (not a word, sorry). So I pulled it all apart w/ all that soaking I'm certain it got REALLY good drink. I put it in all new mix (washed out the pot which was only 6", not 8" as I'd guessed) & started over. The old soil was extremely spongy & after I repotted it all the remaining mix was really like sludge, w/ all the water I used to soak it. Found abt 7 viable plants in all. So in its nice new home of mix (peat, perlite, vermiculite, pumice & tsp of charcoal), I'm hoping it will come back. So far this wk, the leaf drying out has diminished, tho' unfortunately I lost all my new growth tips. Happily, the mix is draining nicely & this wknd I expect to water normally w/ a shot of ST. So yes, I'd agree, when in EA mix or (unknown) spongy soil, best to repot. WHEW, what an ordeal, cross yr. fingers pls! Thx for trying to help me. I'll report back on recovery results. I do hope to get back to the shop where I bought it & ask if it was an EA plant or who the supplier was. Abt why they use that mix? I'm guessing maybe it works better in greenhouses? Can't imagine for the life of me, why else they'd use such awful stuff!