Oh my lamb!!! You have done a great job, Santi, with your gardens I love it all. The space is beautiful. Is the precious plant in the 6th & 7th photos from the bottom up a type of Gaura maybe? Its awesome. I love your Geraniums. What's your secret to growing them? I can't. I think because it gets so humid here in south MS. I have a pale/clear pink one that I bought in a mixed basket this spring that I put in a half whiskey barrel and just about lost during the hottest part of the summer. I cut it back hard and it's looking better and getting new blooms since it's cooled off...just in time to freeze and be lost. I may dig and pot it up and put it in the garage for winter. Thanks for sharing, Leslie

There are a few things to look at. The first one, I agree, is light. Look for shade loving plants like hosta, impatiens, heuchera. You can do a google search for shade perennials, annuals, even small shrubs. The next thing is the drainage. Even if you use a lightweight potting soil, which is generally recommended for containers (not garden soil or topsoil), it must have good drainage. Do the pots drain well and then make sure the water does not sit in saucers below it for a long time. On the other hand, if the water drains out quickly and the soil dries out, this is not good either. Some folks use the potting soil with moisture retentive crystals in there. Also some compost added to the container will help retain some moisture. You should be checking the moisture content daily if you can. Use you finger or a moisture meter. The next thing is fertilizer or feeding. Plants in containers need this. I like organic but there are synthetic slow release granules or liquids; but DO NOT over fertilize. If your plants are dying within one month, I don't think it's a LACK of nutrients, but maybe over fertilizing which can "burn" a plant. What I suggest is to make sure the soil is pretty light and fluffy, add some compost (you can buy it), maybe 1/4 of what's in the container. Check the drainage before you plant something new. Get some organic fertilizers and follow instructions carefully, don't overdo it. Maybe get a cheap book on organic gardening in containers or balcony gardening or something like that. I think you will be successful! laurie

thank you txKen and rcnaylor for your kind comments.

I'm in NYC also, I adore climbers and I have a mandevilla, a cardinal climber, a clematis, a passiflora and 3 climbing roses. As long as you have sufficient sunlight (6+ hours), water diligently (containers dry faster than in ground planting), and fertilize (weakly and weekly), all of the above will thrive for you. Unhappy plants attract bugs and are less likely to fight them off. All the aggressive climbers will need heavy feeding to grow and flower abundantly.