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

Kristimama - I use Black Magic potting soil. It seems to be widely available, and it was highly recommended by a very knowledgeable person on this forum. It's a tad expensive, but since my roses have so much to contend with already, I felt they deserved it. I should have mentioned that I have only had roses for about 4 years, so I'm far from expert. I've learned a lot, however, due to volunteering once a week at the Sacramento Historic Rose Garden in the old city cemetery (a wonderful place to spend a few hours, working or not!). I also should have mentioned that my roses are about to face an even more challenging environment: After yellowjackets came every summer that we've been here (4 years), last summer they built a nest in the rolled-up "privacy screens" on the balcony, directly above my roses. The exterminator said that they would be bound to come back, as they find those rolled-up screens to be a perfect nesting site (it keeps them warm, etc.), and that it would be best to keep the screens rolled down. They're part of the balcony (i.e., the property of the apartment complex), so I can't get rid of them. They are down now, as I am allergic to bees and wasps. SO... the roses (and my other plants, succulents) will get even less sun than before. This coming summer is an experiment - I'm hoping that the screens being down will produce a dappled shade effect, thus shielding things from frying, while still letting in enough sunlight to keep everything more or less happy. We shall see. As Amelia Peabody would say, "Another challenge! I'm up to it!" -- at least, I hope so. Laura

Hi PUGlvr1, First, just wanted to say I've read many of your posts and have enjoyed them. I guess everything is relative. Here in Las Vegas, we started hitting 100 in May31. Today, we hit 107, humidity is 8%. What? it ain't summer yet? :-) Needless to say, by this time of the year, almost all my jades go indoors or under the porch. They're mostly outdoors during winter, save a day or two when night temps go below freezing. The opposite of what most folks do. What can I say - Vegas has nice temps in the winter. Humid in Vegas is 25%. I would imagine with your higher humidity, even temps in the 90's could push the heat index well above 100. My next door neighbor, who owns a landscape company, caught me many years ago watering my plants (potted, in-ground, and grass) at high noon, on the hottest day of July. I did this because I thought it helps cool the plants off. He said I should not do this because any water that splatters on it's leaves, even on grass blades, would get hot to the point that it could damage leaves, burn spots, and/or wilt the plant. Luckily, I only did minor damage to one gollum. To date, the brown spots on it's otherwise healthy leaves still show the scars. So now, I water outdoor plants very early in the morning or when the sun has shaded the plants. I wonder if when jades are subjected to very high humidity (isn't 100% humidity called rain?) baking in the full sun, if that does some damage to it's leaves, exactly as if you watered the leaves while in full/esposed sun/heat? -sutremaine- I agree with your statement "If you want a Jade that can take full sun you'll have to make a new one from a leaf so that the growth it puts on is created with full sun tolerance". As an experiment and because I have never done so before, I took a crassula leaf and a few small gollum tips, and dropped them into an outdoor pot last summer. The pot gets full sun all day, all year, no special treatment. This year, even watered them when they're completely sun-baked (leaves and all, as you can see from the water spots). And here they are! I suspect these would be my toughest jades (winter or summer). The only downside is I have to water them every other day now. By July, it'll be everyday. But they're not even red! :-)

Ditto the mold problem in Portland, OR. My greenhouse is in partial sun but unheated and I put up shade cloth Feb.1. Within 20 minutes of the sun coming out it went, without shade cloth, to 115 degrees! Arghhhh. I put up a fan or two and it helps but doesn't completely eliminate the problem. Don't water til plants droop. Keep the doors and vents open--even on cool days. I've also found luck scraping the mold off the surface of the soil and replacing it with 1" of calcined clay grit (available in 50 lb. bags at Home Depot as garage floor oil absorbent)on top of pot. It absorbs the surface water and holds it if there is too much, and won't attract mold. Good luck!