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 am still learning about gardening in the Mediterranean. Some things have disappointed me, some have frustrated me, and some have delighted far beyond expectation. Fuchsias and nemesias, have been a mixed bag. Some have grown and flowered beautifully, whilst others have kicked the bucket for no discernible reason. All the dahlias had powdery mildew, and none of them flowered much at all. Two of the alstromerias, died in just a few days in August. Mind you, they had been flowering without pause for two years. I can only assume, that they were exhausted. BUT, Nepeta Walkers Low has flowered since early May and is still flowering. It has spread itself out into a completely weed suppressing mat. It looks lovely next to a silvery Artemisia which shimmers non stop and Gaura Siskiyou Pink, which has also been flowering since early May. In the same bed, is a magenta pelargonium and Celosia Caracas, which is a plant that I thought a bit crass and over the top in England, but which works well in the stronger light here. The only trouble is, having only seen it as a summer patio plant before, I underestimated it's mature size. It is going to have to move. Behind these is New Dawn climbing up the apricot tree with Blush Noisette beside it. Lovely. Other big successes have been; Aster x frikartii Monch, another one that has been flowering since May. Felicia amelloides has made a rounded fat cushion, studded with it's blue daisy flowers all summer. Clematis Perle d'azur, still flowering in November, and too many more to mention. The apricots, black plums and golden gages, were so profuse we didn't know what to do with them all. Every day for weeks on end we would lug carrier bags full around to all the neighbours. They always "seemed" delighted with them. We received a lot of them back though as jars of home made jam. I think we now have enough jam to last ten years! The roses. Oh! the roses have mostly been wonderful. It was very hot here in August, and most of them did the sensible thing and stopped flowering for a while. However, Archduke Charles, Abraham Darby, Archduc Joseph, Blush Noisette, Duchess de Brabant, Sombreuil and Colombian Climber, took no notice of the intense heat, and continued to flower all through it. They are all still flowering, and have been joined by all the others. Marechal Neil, although young, has so many buds and flowers on now, that I gave up trying to count them this afternoon. The only big catastrophe has been the loss of my big, beautiful, Astelia Silver Spear. It was one of the plants that travelled across Europe with me from Cornwall. I had planted it on the end of the first flower bed I made, where it looked just right. Oh well, I have bought a packet of seeds and will try again. Daisy

Parker,I have been thinking of the same thing too--about the cold, particularly about the damage that was caused to it in 2010. I think the fertility of the tree might have been greatly compromised because otherwise the foliage growth seems to be prolific. In fact, I have had to trim off the branches every year up to 3 ft from their tips. Trying to keep it from growing taller and broader was a chore .. lol. Right now, it stands at least at 16 ft if not 18 ft. This all happened after the tree died down to 1/3 of its original size. Before the freeze, it was about 6-7 ft tall. I think something weird must have happened that made this tree to behave in a way that is most unpredictable. My other lychee trees although are slow in catching up, they do eventually put up a show of a full crown blooms. This year, I'm so happy to see my Hap Ip and Sweet Heart in full blooms. I'm thankful that my Brewster regularly fruits, although it seems to be showing a year of heavy alternate with a year of light bloom. This year, it's going on a light bloom mode. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all will go well as I also have to keep down the web worm infestation. So far, the BT we're spraying seems to be working. It's not a chemical, but a kind of a bacterium culture that the larvae from the web worm feed on. It makes them sick so they'll stop eating the young floral parts. They have been eating my Sweetheart every year until we found this wonderful spray. We're also spraying it on our mangoes as they also attack them. If you keep some lychees in your yard, it would be nice if you share pix of some of your plants.

THANKS Harold, Jay and Iris for all your thoughts. Mighty grateful. I had planned on putting seed trays under my covered patio, not in direct sun, and was debating about dome or no dome. Now, mulling it over, I'm inclined to take some of the seeds and doing the paper towel/baggie method, and leaving the bags inside my house...which is has no CAC....for starting up germination. I will go to the "Growing from seed" forum on here as mentioned by Jay. Jay: thanks about mentioning "black" seed trays. Those are the trays I have, if I didn't go a different way. Had not even thought about it the black making it hotter. You are a gem. Harold: ahhhhh I get now where you are kinda. Greensboro is 3 hours away going north from me...which as I remember being there once has the hills, much more elevated. I'm fairly close to the ocean. A lot of swamps in my rural area. It's really a steam bath out there daily, here. I once lived in rural North Houston area for 5 yrs. Couldn't wait to get out of there. The heat and HUMIDITY was FEROCIOUS, and at that time with ex husband we had a new large home with two CAC and ceiling fans in each room going 24/7. It was unbearable most of the year outside. Any gardening I tried there was a waste of time.