Hi wannabegrower and welcome! I have had 2 lilacs on my balcony for going on 9 and 12 years and I would disagree about them being "gangly and awkward". There are many hundreds of types of very hardy lilacs and in particular, the koreans like S. meyeri and S. patula (like "Miss Kim") have unique, dark green foliage and a mounding habit as well as no powdery mildew worries, making them a beautiful and fragrant addition to a garden - whether in-ground or on-balcony. My lilacs are part of my quest to have something blooming through most of the growing season and are my favorite for the couple weeks that they are blooming. The fragrance is well worth it and the privacy/shade that they provide to my bedroom is wonderful. This was my "Miss Kim" last spring: I also have a "James McFarlane" (S. x prestonae - thought I had a pic of it from last year but this is from 2005). The nice thing about "Miss Kim" is that she gets fall coloration as well, with the green leaves turning to a reddish wine and/or bright yellow (example of that below): With respect to your aloe - it's funny but one of my brother-in-laws had a potted (and very potbound) aloe for years and finally had one of the local nurseries repot it for him a couple years ago. They divided into 3, ~12" (~60 cm) containers. The 3 ended up completely potbound by the end of that summer and last year, he had them repot them again - resulting in 6 pots of them. Now all of those are starting to get potbound, with babies coming up everywhere, so they are obviously very happy. The pots aren't shallow either (although he originally grew a large one in a small aquarium with about 4" of sandy soil). The current pots are ceramic and about 60 cm deep as well. I think what helps is in summer, he puts them out on a south-facing deck in full blasting sun, so they get that "desert" feel. LOL As long as your soil is free-draining, they should be okay in a deeper pot and the heavier pot will keep them upright.

How windy is your balcony? That is one thing to think about if you decide to try some vines on a trellis to block the view. I know that over the years, privacy planting has been a hot topic here. I had personally been desperately seeking privacy from a nuisance neighbor next door who FINALLY MOVED about a month ago (THANK GOD). Fortunately I am on the end so I don't have anyone on the opposite side. However the past 4 - 5 years have been hell with the couple next door who I shared a partition with, where the guy would continually come out and wrap his face around the partition to bother me while in his underwear. Since I have 2 balcony doors (including one from my bedroom), I did have an escape route and I would always have to be on the lookout for his sudden appearance so that I could take off down to the other end of the balcony if I heard him open his balcony door and step out. I have a honeysuckle vine trained on a trellis over by the smoked glass partition and have put my prickly pear cactus over on a shelf by the partition. I also put my tropical hibiscus over there but I think the thing that looks like it will be the best block now is my young plum tree. I bought it bareroot last winter and through last year, it produced a bunch of 3 - 4ft branches that created a nice canopy of leaves. Placing it near the partition really did the trick. In general, if it isn't too windy, a nice perennial (or even annual) fast-growing vine can provide a nice living privacy screen. Eg., morning glories, moonflower vines, honeysuckle, clematis, any of the bean vines (scarlet runner, hyacinth, etc). In addition, with your sunny exposure, you could try some roses - particularly hardy climbing roses that throw out long canes that you can tie and train to a trellis or other support. You could try some trees, whether evergreen - eg., alberta spruce or an aborvitae (thuja) or deciduous (check hardiness - a popular container one like the japanese maple may have cultivars that are marginal where you are) or even hardy fruit trees. And finally, don't rule out hardy shrubs like lilacs. I use my lilacs and blueberries as a privacy hedge across from my bedroom.

Hi Bob, I live in Cannes, in the South of France and have nothing but sun from noon till sunset, as well as a long growing season. Over the years I have been trying different things in an effort to find what can put up with the relentness solar rays. I often have to water twice a day to keep plants from wilting. I have a long balcony, but it is only one metre wide so I have to be careful with plants that spread too much in all directions; this happened with an aloe saponaria that has grown into a monster and now needs to move downstairs next to the front door. I also have a problem with a wind called the Mistral which blows with such force that it can knock over pots and shred the leaves of climbing plants. Pelargoniums are great for sunny balconies although budworm can be a problem. I like planting lobelia around the borders of the pots. Red flowers surrounded by blue lobelia look particularly nice and is a combination I used to see frequently in England. The pelargoniums provide a bit of shade to the lobelia which otherwise does not do well once the temperatures rise. Kalanchoes do well although they have to be checked carefully for black aphids every spring. The plants can be destroyed incredibly fast unless you are vigilant. I have waxy begonias, though the leaves never get very big and are slightly curled if the plants are in full sun, though they do bloom profusely. The leaves look normal if a bit of shade can be provided by other plants. Dwarf marigolds are very easy to grow and love the sun. I don't think they are prone to any kind of problems. I have a lot of snapdragons as they self-seed like crazy. These too can be prone to aphids. I grow sweet alyssum as a border to the snapdragons. I have some miniature roses, but they constantly have to be inspected for signs of black spot, white mould and green aphids. Some kinds are more resistant to diseases than others. Roses are known for aphid infestations but the springtime problems I have with the kalanchoes are much worse. Plumbago is another sun-loving, flowering plant that doesn't present any problems. These grow into enormous bushes here and are not compact plants so I keep mine in a corner. I have a trellis and am growing morning glories and have grown moonflowers in the past. I also have a jasmine that is climbing up the trellis but no flowers yet. I have a jade plant and once stuck the seed of a nisporo I ate into the soil and is now on its way to becoming a tree. When I lived in Sevilla a friend had something approaching a hundred pots of petunias on her azotea. Unfortunately, they all came down with a disease and died, but normally petunias love the sun and can make great hanging baskets. As mentioned already, the aloe species will grow very fast in full sun and high temperatures. A pot of aloe vera is good to have on hand for burns, including sunburns. You can grow herbs such as parsley and basil or pots of strawberries or even tomatoes. You can grow bourganvilla if you want something that climbs. You can also try passion flower, though I've never grown it so can't speak about any pitfalls, however, I do see it growing in gardens here. There are many flowers that are very easy to grow from seed--marilgolds have got to be the easiest. It's cheaper and a lot more fun. One of the ways of discovering what does well in Barcelona is to look up and see what other people are growing. I'm not sure if the winter temperatures in Barcelona are colder or the same as what we have here but all of my plants stay outdoors during winter and the pelargoniums even continue to put out a few flowers. When I lived in New York I was used to having houseplants that grew slowly. Here it's a different story. Flowers come up so quickly and are so easy to grow that I've begun finding the kinds of mostly non-flowering houseplants that I formerly grew to be a bit boring! And of course here most of those plants can survive outdoors. Lana

Hello, Lloyd Linn. The black spots may be indicative of a fungal problem often caused by high humidity levels. In many cases, they do not cause much damage and self correct when summer weather patterns arrive. There is also a condition called camellia scab that can be controlled by maintaining the soil evenly moist as best as you can, planting the shrub so it gets afternoon shade. The yellowing in leaves is common in May, when camellias shed old leaves. Keep an eye on the shrub to confirm that nothing else is going on. Hello Vickie Brown. Minor pruning can be done at any time; major pruning can be done when the plant has stopped flowering; severe or drastic pruning is best done around February, when the plant's dormant state will help minimize the shock. Hello Anita. Bud drop can be caused by any one of several things. The most common one is weather. Wild temperature swings during the winter months can cause buds to drop. Freezing temperatures for long periods can also cause bud drop. Lack of moisture during the times that the plant has developed flower buds can also cause bud drop. Periods of drought followed by rain can trigger bud drop. In some cases, it may be necessary to grow camellias that bloom before or after winter to prevent problems caused by winter temperatures' wild fluctuations. Because the shrub is potted, I would also make sure that it is not in a windy location that may trigger the soil to dry out often. Lastly, the camellia bud mite can also cause bud drop (spray with a mitice as soon as the buds have set). It does tend to affect the look of the leaves, especially in the center. Does that help you? Luis