Hi Julianna - Of COURSE I'm interested in what you're growing! This "bright shade" situation is most interesting and will require experimenting. I started this thread LESS than a month ago and already I see a difference in the number of hours the back of my balconies get sun. On the same token, the sun spots for the items hanging off the balcony are also lengthening. Right now, due to the containers I used for most of my succulents being bulky, they've been placed to the back of my patio where they get a brightness all day long (bright shade, as you called it) but direct sun is for but an hour plus a day? I have to wait and see how these do moving forward... This is balcony 1 -- the one with full sun up front. I bought a bunch of those white balcony pot hanging thingamagics -- and it's pretty useful. It's smaller than balcony 2, but deeper. What's not shown is that further in to the left, you have two shelves full of plants--where most of the succulents are as well as my infamous gardenia, which Purple has been helping me with, haha. This was taken moments ago and today is a bit stormy and cloudy but it's still bright out there at 3:30 pm. This is balcony 2. It's significantly wider with about 3-4 feet MORE to the left than is shown here; that part is obviously full shade. The remainder is all less full sun than balcony 1 and in the afternoon, it quickly goes into no sun as to the right of this balcony, the building juts out with an overhang to the lobby area below. That seems to block out the sun instantly. Unlike you, my area requires me to bring in virtually nothing as we rarely hit 40* and if a plant's lowest tolerance is 50* (which is basically our entire winter) -- then either I don't get it, or it evolves quickly, haha. Thank God, because my house is full enough with houseplants -- I need outside plants to come in like I need a hole in the head. I was browsing some ferns yesterday! Are they hard to grow? I have a Venus Maidenhair here inside, but I don't believe I've ever had ferns in my yard. In the past when I had homes, I've usually had full sun and have much, much less experience with shade plants. I'm messing with the idea of hostas and I'm definitely getting some coleus and begonias, but on balcony 2 - where most of my shade gardening would be -- you can see that the depth of the balcony is minimal; putting large pots out there means no walking area. This puts a damper in my idea of creating cascading containers w/ spillers, etc. I might have room for... uh, ONE. After all of this, I'm of the mindset to move back to a house, haha. I find myself driving around town and looking at homes to figure out, "Is that yard facing south? No, wait...east?" It's sad, really!! Your post is missing photos. I'd love to see!!!!!!!!!!!! -Grace.

As you know Jim fertilizing seedlings and how is hotly debated. Many don't feed them at all until transplanted to the garden and they do just fine. Others prefer to feed 1/4 strength every time they water or 1/2 strength every 7-10 days. So opinions will vary widely. My approach is bit different in that I prefer to focus on root development rather than top growth during the seedling stage. That is what is vital to the future health and production of the plants - great roots not tons of dark green leaves. So many other factors come into play. How long until transplanting to the garden? Soon - skip feeding. Weeks - feed. Potting mix - ProMix (depending on which one used) may need a mild P&K supplement but I don't feed N, those that use MG mixes with ferts added may not need to feed at all but if they do it sure doesn't need to be N. Size of the container determines how often they need to be watered and governs the nutrient leach rate IF nutrients are there. So those in cell pack or 4" pots will need more frequent feeding that those in 16 oz cups or 6" pots. Those who stage and 'pot-up their seedlings can feed more than those who refuse to do so (despite all its advantages) - even some N as their root development will be better because of the transplanting. Those who grow seedlings on the dry side don't have to feed nearly as much as those who insist on over-watering. Those who bottom water don't have to feed as often as those who top water for obvious reasons. Then there is the type of fertilizer used and the wide variance in performance. Organics vs. synthetics, liquids vs. granular, slow release vs. quick fix types, etc. See what I mean about lots of variables? So can there be a rule of thumb for fertilizing seedlings? No, not IMO. Since I am growing plants for both sale and use in my own garden they all get the same treatment. General guidelines that I follow: ProMix BX, minimal watering and bottom watering only, lots of supplemental lighting even in the GH, low to no N, well diluted P&K supplements weekly IF needed (examine root development first), liquids only, synthetics only (save the organics for the garden where they have a chance to work), go for 6-8 week transplants, not 2 foot tall 12 week old plants, and do staged potting-up. But that's just my opinion and I'm sure many will disagree in whole or in part. Works for me. Dave

Milkweed are quite tolerant of sun and drought. Will the runoff from your gutter be washing over the seedlings once they are planted? I don't think they could survive that, especially if you get a heavy rain. These seedlings would prefer as much sun as possible, even all day. I would plant the incarnata plants at least 20 inches apart, and the tuberosa 15-18 apart. You could fill in the spaces in between with nectar-rich annuals such as zinnias, pentas, lantana, asters, etc. As your milkweeds mature and spread, you can expand your butterfly garden to continue to include more and more varieties of plants, if you want. You may not get any blossoms this year, so no seeds, either. I would encourage you to plant more seeds next year, just like you did this year. Once the Monarchs find your garden, you want to be sure you have plenty of food for any caterpillars you might be hosting. Also, females prefer to deposit eggs on young, tender leaves. I found most of my eggs on the very smallest new seedlings, rather than on the established plants that were blooming. I hope this helps. The butterflies don't care what your garden looks like, as long as you have what they need growing there. Make sure you can see it from a window or that you can sit somewhere comfortably to watch and enjoy any visitors. Good luck. Martha

thanks for the tips...I suspected that might be the best choice, the downside is that the north facing side of my GH is really isolated and out of view from about everything. So they wont get many "looks", but maybe I can figure a way to position them on the corners so that they can peek around from each end and be seen.