Okay, finally think I have got it right! Nowhere near as beautiful others I have seen in this gallery and on these forums, but keep in mind that I never grew anything before last May and before that the only thing on my balcony was a lounge chair and the smoker! LOL! Here is the front view of my balcony: On the shelves on the left are lemongrass, garlic chives, Texas tarragon, thyme and mint. (you cant see most of them because I was about to go out of town and had them clustered together so the tubes from the plant sitter could go into the same water bottle). Hanging from the railing (left to right) are sweet basil, thai basil, sage, a combo planter that failed and a thai pepper somebody gave me. Along the back wall are my bay and thai lime trees. This is the south end of my balcony. These are my first attempts at combination planters; a combination of coleus, caladiums and sweet potato vines. This one is the north side of the balcony. On the right are the bay and thai lime again Picture quality sucks (looks like some of the pics were superimposed on the others), but I am now determined that I will get a digital camera ASAP so I should have better ones eventually!. Lydia

Thanks for the name (& the link), Jeff. Between Fairy Lantern & Globe Lily, I guess you can get Fairy Lily...which Zephyranthes is called too. :) Why I was confused. ~Rosemarie

Potato plants are supposed to die back a few weeks after flowering. Once the foliage is dead you dig them up. That part sounds normal even though the foliage die off in a few weeks time can be troubling to those who haven't grown potatoes in the past. The scab showing on yours does not make them unsafe to eat: it mainly just looks ugly. Using certified seed potatoes at planting, having a lower soil pH, planting in areas that haven't recently grown potatoes or other scab carrying crops, and having adequate moisture throughout the growing season can minimize problems in the future.

So here's an interesting note about my varigated dayflower find... someone on the "Name that Plant!" forum suggested it might be Tradescantia fluminensis 'Variegata' or Tradescantia albiflora. Both are often kept as hanging-basket houseplants, and get white dayflower-type flowers. Also, if they do not get enough light, the foliage will revert to green, and sometimes they throw green segments for no particular reason. Both are referred to as "wandering jew" on various websites, and mention that they do escape cultivation occasionally. I have never had them as houseplants so I'm still not convinced this is Tradescantia and not Commelina. I will wait to see the blooms. Even people who say they have encountered these as weeds have had people volunteer to take the "weeds" from them. The color is striking. I will grow as much of it as I can so I will have some to share! I'm thinking we shall all have to try to overwinter it in order to keep it from disappearing...