balkong, i'll tell you what i tried to keep on the balcony in winter. japanese yew - smallish, about 12" pot. overwintered twice/bloomed, then died 3rd year. hinoki false cypress - overwintered once. reg english ivy - died sev years when it was dropping into low teens; survived well last winter. this winter should be ok too - so hardy to 17F, sort of? it's in the biggest 18" pot. hydrangeas - overwintered once, but then bloomed very weakly. so not much point. montauk daisy overwinters well in 12" pot, burried in soil in 16" pot . so for me it's good. it even blooms 2nd year farely well. but then i chuck it, since it's weak. overwintered oriental lilies: stargazers once: wrapped the pot in big bubble and then covered with cardboard box overturned and lined in plastic. but easier to just dig in new ones in spring. oh, mums of course survive - but with NE sun won't really bloom. may be with your west sun corner they will fare better. that's about it for me. i had clematis on a diff balcony facing east/south-east. it did not survive winter though. also juniper survives, but it needs sun. may be SW corner will do. This post was edited by petrushka on Sat, Apr 13, 13 at 14:09

I loved taking a stroll through your yard in this and other posts. I like the shot approaching the hosta garden and feeling like I just walked into it. Can't imagine how you do it without a big crew to keep it all looking that great. I'm finally giving in and using some Round-up, as minimal as possible, because the grass is killing me. It is the worst weed, and that's saying a lot because I have so many. I learn a lot from the information you give on GardenWeb.

What interesting comments from everyone. And I agree...it is so easy to see the flaws in our own gardens. I know I am very aware of what I wanted mine to look like (and all the ways it doesn't look like that). But anyone else looking at my colorful beds would NOT be aware of my mind pictures. And if you just look at what IS there, it's not bad. In fact, it's beautiful. Sunday morning I made my usual stroll around the flowerbeds with my cup of coffee in hand. The weather was absolutely perfect - for once the humidity was only 40% and that felt so fresh and pleasant. The sun was shining so bright and clear...birds singing....WONDERFUL. And I stopped beside the "old flowerbed" and just drank it in. Even though that bed is very, very far from "magazine ready" and it isn't even in top form on its own - chrysanthemum, aster, SB sage not blooming yet; almost all the daylilies already finished; only one hibiscus bloom left; half the phlox deadheaded already; gaura not yet blooming after being drastically treated for bugs. In fact, it's a weird mixture out there. A few white phlox, a blackberry lily, a few zinnias, a couple of wild patches of wave petunias (volunteers), some Moonbeam coreopsis, one bizarre amaranth that is approaching 7 feet tall, one tithonia that is even taller...but, you know, as I stood there I felt the most amazing sense of being someplace very special: I felt like a visitor seeing my garden for the first time - hard to explain...surrounded by all the color and amazing shapes of all the different plants plus the weather, I was so aware that it is not really mine to control. And that is probably a very good thing.

Thank you, bbstx for the picture help. I think I have an photo account somewhere, but haven't used it for quite some time. Will have to investigate that. Green Iron soapstone is actually, at least ours, greener than what it shows on my monitor. The lighter parts have a slight aqua cast. The streaks are copper colored. (I bought a copper sink.) I think they are iron oxide, in other words, rust. I asked the man who actually did the cutting what he thought they were and he does not know. He said they were all different colors while he was working. I have not been able to find much information about Green Iron, but I think I read somewhere that it is harder than most soapstone, but I can't find that information. I do now have a remnant to play with and it does not scratch easily. The time it took from the time we found the soapstone to installation was determined more by the demolition and the cabinets than the fabricator. Once we found the soapstone at Pental, Kris, the owner of Natural Stone Interiors, put it on hold. They will hold a slab for seven days without a fabricator selected, but will hold it longer if you are working with a fabricator. Once our GC had a good idea of when the cabinet installation would be complete, we let Natural Stone Interiors know and they put us in the schedule. Templating took place on a Thursday and the countertop was installed 11 days later. I am not going to oil this. I like the lighter look. When I wet it down with water it is still pretty, but darker than I want. I can't speak to the cost, because I really don't know how it would compare to someone else. We did get some comparisons on a piece of granite from a couple different fabricators before we found the soapstone and those estimates were about the same as this soapstone. We ended up buying a fourth slab just so we could have two sets of bookended slabs. That is why the seams match up so perfectly.