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

My list would echo Camerons - after two years of heat and drought I am totally done with fussy perennials - I have gotten over the 'need' to have gardens like all the ones I see on the internet and magazines. I need to just concentrate on what grows for me with minimum care and gives me time to actually sit back and enjoy. I would like to add more agastaches and have larger drifts of them - they do well for me. I am also going to do more larger containers. I have found that gardening is an evolving process depending on current climate conditions and health/age - both are changing for me so I will adapt :) ..... Lynne

Geographically, my plant is in coastal Los Angeles, less than three miles from the ocean. Climate here varies greatly as you get further from the beach, and I am close enough to get the coastal influence that keeps the summers from getting too hot and also keeps the winters from ever having frost. It's not tropical - it's very similar to the climate in South Africa. I'm not that familiar with the climate in London - but from what I've heard, it is also very mild. However, I do know that I get a lot more sun in the winter than London does, even though winter is our rainy season. It does not get below 40°F where I live, mean temperature in January is 58°F. I would think that anyone growing a dragon fruit plant would want to get fruit from it, as it is quite delicious. That's the only reason I am growing it. You can only see the flowers at night and early the next morning, and so that's not much of a reason. And yes, my plant stays outdoors all year - it is extremely difficult to move once it gets to a certain size, and as I said before, the arms get brittle and break easily when they are very long.