Thanks for the suggestions; the info./link was interesting. Is culantro the same thing as Thai coriander? If it's good in salads, I'd love to try it......and where in the world do I find these herbs? Honestly, I've never heard of either one. Thanks noinwi, for the advice; thyme is one herb that I love to look at, smell, taste, feel.....ahhh, I even decorate with it. A whole row of it would be sort of nice, and where I live, I can use it all winter long......

Hi Vera, I was born in Puyallup, WA. I'm sure you know where that is, but we moved to WI when I was a year old. I've been back there to visit a few times, but mostly to visit relatives in Tacoma. As I can recall, Eastern WA is much different than Western WA......Eastern WA much flatter? Anyway, about the weather here - you can expect anything and everything. Our summers can be extremely hot, in the 90's,or 100's, dry or humid, droughts and flooding, long cool rainy Springs that never seem to end, or so short we seem to go from Winter to summer. (Same for Fall) No matter what the weather is, the Hostas survive. And as Ken mentioned above, plant whatever you want, and if it doesn't do well, move it. Have fun experimenting. I know I will. Julie

Of the plants you list, the Japanese maple is the most shade tolerant and will maintain the color best. The sambucus prefers full sun, the hydrangea is not really red at all (reddish-pink flowers and perhaps some fall color, much less in shade) and the corylus is not very shade tolerant and will fade out to green in midsummer anyway. I have a red laceleaf JM in a very similar situation and it maintains its color well and is very happy under the Doug firs and western red cedars :-) None of these are evergreen, however :-) Unfortunately, evergreen plants with year round red or burgundy foliage are rather limited and nearly all need as much sun as possible to retain that coloring. There are a couple of other plants that will provide at last some seasonal redness. Disanthus cercidifolius is a shade loving shrub that consistently turns amazing shades of burgundy and copper in fall, even in quite heavy shade. It is deciduous. Dwarf leucothoe is also very shade tolerant, a low growing evergreen shrub that gets very red coloring in response to cold temperatures (i.e., winter) - look for Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Scarletta'. Needs regular moisture. And wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens, will respond to cold temperatures by turning a deep red in winter - more sun, more color. This is a groundcover. That's about all I can think of that would fit your requirements - I'd go with the maple :-)

Hi, Julianna. I am from OKC, so pretty much directly West of you a few hundred miles, lol! I grow a lot of vines in bright shade on my property. My growing area is North facing, but I do get sun in parts of the yard, part shade and bright shade in others. I've grown lots and lots of morning glories, many of them Japanese Morning Glories, in these locations, and while they may not be just covered in bloom, they bloom quite a lot and are beautiful. They can be grown in containers, but I would use at least a 3-gallon pot at a minimum. These are annuals for us, but it is easy to collect seed, after the bloom drops off, the pod turns brown, just collect the seed and store until next season. I highly recommend a lady from Texas, EmmaGrace, for your seeds. She sells on eBay under the name jmglover, and also has a website at: http://www.morninggloryusa.com/shop/category_1-1/Morning-Glories.html?sessid=MluXZjXsoBNL1Ryps37QPS16VjQBliDpBUd0IDrovul9Nx7QMqlXUjmDqg02UpSg&shop_param=cid%3D%26 Anyone know how to hyperlink this? I am going to also attach a link to her eBay store because in it, she offers many Japanese Morning Glory seeds, other Convolvulaceae family seeds, and a lot of other interesting seeds as well. Some seeds are priced higher than others, depending on their rarity and probably other factors, too. But Emma probably offers THE best prices on Japanese Morning Glories than a ton of others I've encountered, where they are up in the $7 to higher range. Her seeds have great viability, and as I said, I highly recommend her. She always sends some free seeds as a gift, too. That said, I have also grown other vines, such as Ipomoea alba, or Moonflower. You might want to grow this in a pot on your balcony because it is very fragrant and blooms as night. You probably would get some night-flying sphinx moth activity. They are fun to watch and are commonly referred to as "hummingbird moths" because of the rapid movement of their wings, and their ability to "hover" around the flowers like hummers do. A vine that does well in pots, altho I would shade the roots in the pot by covering it with something like cloth or furniture on your balcony, is Clematis. Almost any of these beauties would do well in a pot. It may take a year or so to become established well enough to bloom, depending on the size you purchase. These are perennial vines, so you could expect them to return each year. Black-Eyed Susan vine may do okay in bright light, too. They only get about 5-6' tall, but their sunny little faces would indeed brighten up your balcony. They are annuals, too. Twining Snapdragon vines will take bright light, too. Botanical name is Asarina, of which there are many species, but A. scandens is the most common. They can get about 7' tall, and can be grown from seed, too. Not too much nitrogen, though, for this one, or all you'll get is foliage and few. Mandevilla is a shorter vine, around 5-6', that is very pretty and can tolerate a lot of heat. It will be annual for you, unless you can take inside and winter over. Very nice blooms and foliage. You may be able to grow Hyacinth Bean (Dolichos lablab), with purple flowers followed by decorative purple beans. It also comes in white flowerins/green beans. It is an extremely vigorous annual, so I'd use a larger pot and I'm not sure how much weight your balcony can tolerate. I threw in a couple or so of perennial vines that may or may not survive in a pot overwinter, and that may be drug indoors for overwintering. But, there's a few suggestions. Susan