Hello everyone,

I live in an apartment building in the midwest. Like many people, I
get the blues when the sun isn't out as often. But I also get the
blues because the landscape changes drastically.

Every year I have a potted garden on my balcony that faces south. Is
there any way to cover the balcony? Is there any sort of covering I
can purchase and attach to the balcony so that I can enclose it?
Perhaps some sort of substance that blocks the extreme cold and can be
hammered into the wood?

I have a gorgeous mandevilla that I got at the end of spring. It was
a tiny, flowering plant and has since grown like crazy and has wrapped
itself around anything and everything it can find. If I can't somehow
enclose my back porch, then I'm going to have to take the mandevilla
indoors. Any suggestions for what to do with it? I will have to
untangle it and then what do I do when I bring it indoors?

I'm half-tempted to load up a moving truck and take my garden west and
leave it with friends for the winter....

I intend to move within the year.

Thanks for any input and sorry for my lack of knowledge.