Make sure your roof will hold the weight and bear the foot traffic of you tending the garden. Order your seeds from Baker Creek or another place that sells only Open-pollinated or heirloom seeds, so you can save them each year. Good luck :)

Talk about a horror story... Remember that big thick healthy root... well, that was NOT a root at all, but a hardy stick from some other plant, cut and sealed at the top and bottom. I guess the florist decided to put that in for the looks...??!? It fell off before I got the plant out of the vase all the way, I was really disappointed... The rest of the roots were all dry and mostly moldy....ugh! The top parts all dried up in a tight ball and bottoms hangig with some black moldy parts... I washed the old potting medium out and cut of what couldn't be saved, which is most of them... and since I knew I couldn't get my hands on any kind of rooting solution in the next few days, I planted it in sphagnum moss and pre-soaked bark as is for the moment... I cut off one spike, the other one is still in bloom, but flowers are wilting so I will have to cut that one probably today or tomorrow... I do feel bad about cutting it off since it is healthy, huge and has 4 branches that are still growing... but what has to be done, has to be done... Leaves still do not look good. What are your recommendations? Thanks! P.S. I am trying to post photos but am having some problems with flickr. I will try again later....

Plain old peat moss and Perlite (NOT Miracle grow perlite) is usually what people use. Some use sand instead of Perlite, some use long fibered sphagnum moss. It has be be free of fertilizers. A 50/50 mix of those is all you need.

South balconies in Edmonton can get very hot in the summer so you may want to look at some more drought resistant varieties for pots that can take a lot of sun. Pots dry out very fast on a hot day here, especially higher up. Some of the plants with tuber type roots such as daylilies, and dahlias do well in pots and they are perennials if you bring them in for the winter. :) . They are not climbers but can tolerate heat. Geraniums don't mind drying out either. They look nice in pots with mint and dracaena plants and will also live over the winter nicely inside. I have a very hot front porch and they do well out there in pots. :) Morning glories are another climber that can handle heat better than some. Hope this helps. :) Ginny (Edmonton) .