Great ideas, you guys....thanks! I have a Meyer Lemon in a pot, waiting to go in the ground, where hubby BBQ'd the original Meyer on Father's Day (don't ask!), and that will be next to the concrete border, with a companion lime. Leafy greens in the shade? Hmmm. ok. Was hoping for a permanent planting, as I am forbidden to put a bougainvillia there, it should still be pretty, and hopefully tall. The concrete wall is ugly grey blocks. I've had a cherimoya before, with fruit, and it wasn't hand-pollinated, but that is a tasty tree! Not too shady for it? Good choice. Kitazawa's site looked mighty tasty. I guess $21 isn't too steep to pay for those seeds. Now I need to figure out where all the banana pots should get planted.... thanks again.

Jessica - I am on the 18th floor of a hi-rise with a covered balcony that like yours, faces NE. In my case, since I am above the tree line, I can get about 5 - 6 hours of sun per day. I have a number of vines here but you might want to consider growing your vines against your balcony rail. I have 2 honeysuckles ('Blanche Sandman' & 'Mandarin'), morning glories, cypress vine, hyacinth bean vine, and scarlet runner bean vines. What I did with those annual vines was to plant them in a 3ft trough at my balcony rail and then let them climb on a trellis that I put in the trough that extends up about 6ft. That way, the vines can get the sun and the flowers will face out to where the hummers can enjoy them. I have really been surprised at how much the hummers like the MGs - particularly once they have closed and they can stick their beaks down in them. I have trained the MGs to go up the feeder shepherd's hook and that actually helps to shade the feeder for the hummies. My honeysuckles are back from the rail but still bloom with part sun. Honeysuckles tend to be edge of the understory (eg., woods) type plants anyway, so they can tolerate part sun conditions. Creating places for them to perch (and guard) is also good to do, and a trellis does help in that regard. The below is one of my feeders with the MGs trained over the shepherd's hook and a hummer at the feeder - with another hummer right nearby on a makeshift perch! LOL

There are lots of plants that would work depending on your budget & time commitment to care for them. A simple way is to use a base of groundcovers that trail. Then add a few colorful accents as desired whether annuals or seasonal perennials tucked in then planted out in the regular ground garden. If you combine plants that tolerate the same level of moisture & growing conditions it's easy. I've used these evergreen or semi-evergreen plants in part shade containers without much work at all after planting except for some slug control, cutting back after flowering, and watering. Now & then I tuck the trailers back into the planters to fill out more or just snip off & plant elsewhere. Around Christmas I tuck in conifer boughs without damaging the plants. Creeping groundcovers: vinca minor, purple-leaved ajuga, golden creeping jenny, wintercreeper euonymus (slow growing Emerald Gaiety & Emerald & Gold), and Lamiums (not the invasive yellow bloomers, but the other ones). Japanese pachysandra has a sweet fragrant spring flower, so in a container you can smell it without bending over. Not showy after that, but green all year. Palace Purple Heuchera gives great contrast & colors up fine for me in morning sun. Then the airy stalk of white blooms give it a totally different look in summer. Bergenia Winterglut has great bronze fall & winter color with spring flowers. If you need more height and also want to please the hummingbirds the very hardy upright fuchsias from the Northwest Fuchsia society's list on the website will establish & return year after year. Some even have golden or variegated foliage to give more contrast. I mulch them every year in outdoor containers to be sure they return. I've added hybrid columbines from seed or serbian bellflower for more colorful blooms. Sometimes, even fringecup our native Tellima grandiflora. When the height of the bloom stalks in late May/June tend to flop a bit, but you can cut them off if desired or leave until fall. I've used our native lady fern with a variegated groundcover Bishop's weed, but that all goes dormant in fall then I cover with windblown conifer branches until the Bishop's weed regrows in spring. I haven't used other native plants in planters, but enjoy them in the gardens. Corrine

Hi, Julianna. I am from OKC, so pretty much directly West of you a few hundred miles, lol! I grow a lot of vines in bright shade on my property. My growing area is North facing, but I do get sun in parts of the yard, part shade and bright shade in others. I've grown lots and lots of morning glories, many of them Japanese Morning Glories, in these locations, and while they may not be just covered in bloom, they bloom quite a lot and are beautiful. They can be grown in containers, but I would use at least a 3-gallon pot at a minimum. These are annuals for us, but it is easy to collect seed, after the bloom drops off, the pod turns brown, just collect the seed and store until next season. I highly recommend a lady from Texas, EmmaGrace, for your seeds. She sells on eBay under the name jmglover, and also has a website at: http://www.morninggloryusa.com/shop/category_1-1/Morning-Glories.html?sessid=MluXZjXsoBNL1Ryps37QPS16VjQBliDpBUd0IDrovul9Nx7QMqlXUjmDqg02UpSg&shop_param=cid%3D%26 Anyone know how to hyperlink this? I am going to also attach a link to her eBay store because in it, she offers many Japanese Morning Glory seeds, other Convolvulaceae family seeds, and a lot of other interesting seeds as well. Some seeds are priced higher than others, depending on their rarity and probably other factors, too. But Emma probably offers THE best prices on Japanese Morning Glories than a ton of others I've encountered, where they are up in the $7 to higher range. Her seeds have great viability, and as I said, I highly recommend her. She always sends some free seeds as a gift, too. That said, I have also grown other vines, such as Ipomoea alba, or Moonflower. You might want to grow this in a pot on your balcony because it is very fragrant and blooms as night. You probably would get some night-flying sphinx moth activity. They are fun to watch and are commonly referred to as "hummingbird moths" because of the rapid movement of their wings, and their ability to "hover" around the flowers like hummers do. A vine that does well in pots, altho I would shade the roots in the pot by covering it with something like cloth or furniture on your balcony, is Clematis. Almost any of these beauties would do well in a pot. It may take a year or so to become established well enough to bloom, depending on the size you purchase. These are perennial vines, so you could expect them to return each year. Black-Eyed Susan vine may do okay in bright light, too. They only get about 5-6' tall, but their sunny little faces would indeed brighten up your balcony. They are annuals, too. Twining Snapdragon vines will take bright light, too. Botanical name is Asarina, of which there are many species, but A. scandens is the most common. They can get about 7' tall, and can be grown from seed, too. Not too much nitrogen, though, for this one, or all you'll get is foliage and few. Mandevilla is a shorter vine, around 5-6', that is very pretty and can tolerate a lot of heat. It will be annual for you, unless you can take inside and winter over. Very nice blooms and foliage. You may be able to grow Hyacinth Bean (Dolichos lablab), with purple flowers followed by decorative purple beans. It also comes in white flowerins/green beans. It is an extremely vigorous annual, so I'd use a larger pot and I'm not sure how much weight your balcony can tolerate. I threw in a couple or so of perennial vines that may or may not survive in a pot overwinter, and that may be drug indoors for overwintering. But, there's a few suggestions. Susan