If we read the original post, you'll see that rashomon is not allowed to put up anything that will provide shade on the FIRE ESCAPE (this is not a patio or porch). Double potting is truly the best bet. You could even use something like vermiculite or bubble wrap as an insulator between the two pots. If you water thoroughly in the evening or early morning, your plants will have the time to take as much water as possible into their little plant bodies before the heat of the day commences. If the containers are relatively small, you may need to water twice a day. Watering is a beneficial practice for plants...not only does it provide the required H2O, but flushes the soil with a new supply of fresh oxygen. I respectfully disagree that you should keep a full water tray under your plants at all times. If you do anything to create a water-logged situation, then roots begin to die right away. Then your plant is really in trouble. Plant trays should be emptied a short time after they fill up following a good drenching. Hopefully, you are using a soil-less potting mix (peat based) and is porous and well-drained. Avoid adding sand, clay, compost, or anything like that to a container as those ingredients clog up the small pores in the soil system that ought to be filled with water and air.

Are you installing vinyl siding? Does the window molding have to be the same material as the siding? I'm confused. Here is my house with hardi plank and the window moldings are painted MDF. We will install shutters, but if we didn't, these moldings would be wide enough to stand alone, I think. This is an old picture so excuse that the paiting is not finished.

Just got this response from Faron and thought others might want to see it, too. Thanks, Faron! If existing paint is still well-adhered, sand with 100-grit paper (or a sanding-sponge) so the surface has some "tooth". Remove ALL dust...then prime & paint. For your topcoats, use 100% Acrylic Exterior paint. I'd use at least a Satin or Semi-gloss for trims. I'd use a top-notch Latex primer as well. Oils just keep getting more brittle over time. If you had a lot of bare wood, then an Oil primer is justified, but use Latex topcoats. Faron

Well, Brickeyee - what would you do? Replace the entire window, frame and all? Basically we only need new sills and brickmold. The windows are probably okay for another 10 years if we stay on them with paint and TLC. I thought we'd be doing a good thing to replace the sash. What do you think of pvc sills? Every single window contractor has a different recommendation. This is giving me a huge headache. The current windows are 20+ year old wood builder-grade windows. The sills are rotting and need to be replaced. We are in the boonies. Marvin Infinity (fiberglass) is not sold in this area...We've looked at regular Marvin Integrity, Kolbe Ultras, Pella fiberglass, Anderson, Lincoln, Jeldwen, and Sun. All have sash replacement kits...and it seems that is what we need to go with as opposed the the whole window and frame which would require a major tear out. Suggestions?