I was thinking the same thing, that the heat and pollution of the city is killing the pines. I have plumbago in my garden for three years already but it doesn't grow as well as you at, in Spain, because every winter the branches die because of the cold, but in spring new ones sprout and grow and bloom until the following fall. I am convinced it lives very well in a pot on the balcony. I have seen plumbago in big pots that they probably put in the house in winter.
RE: Contrasts