Gardeners in the true tropics may hate me for saying this but I find the flavor of our native passionfruit to be pretty equal to P. edulis or any of the purple round ones or the large yellow forms found in the tropics. You just have to let them fully ripen (fall off the plant) and start to wrinkle to get the tropical tones to the juice. Otherwise they taste fine but not extra fine. The problem with potted papayas is that flowering and fruiting are affected - you'll see what I mean if you get somewhere that you can grow one outside (even in your zone). The trees just grow better with their roots in the ground. In pots the fruit struggle to size up and ripen. The Mexican types have better flavor when greenhouse grown but those are the ones that get extra tall and have watermelon sized fruit - no way to grow them inside a house. You might want to try the little Strawberry Guava - the bushes don't get covered with fruit like a kumquat but you'll find yourself wanting more and more of them once you start eating them (I think they are even better than regular guavas). They are hardy to like 28 degrees so you can wait until it really gets cold to move them indoors. I don't grow Mango but the few that I have seen only produce a few fruit when grown in pots. I'm lucky that I live near a large Asian market that has all sorts of mangoes to choose from. I'm in zone 7b and move all my potted plants into a simple hoophouse that I only keep above freezing so the winter heating doesn't cost too much. I think the cool winters does a lot to improve blooming in the citrus. It seems to me that the tropicals that produce smaller berry type fruit do best when grown in pots out-of-zone.

Hi, a few weeks ago I purchased a Daphne Eternal Fragrance from the local nursery. It's apparently hardier than other daphnes and supposedly tolerates subtropical conditions. It's not loving said subtropical conditions. Yes, yes admittedly we didnt get off to a great start: it got rained on for 15 days nonstop (while nearby towns evacuated and what not due to flooding) but that was a few weeks ago, and it's still presenting yellowed leaves (entire leaf yellow - vein and inter-vein). I've given it worm juice (other plants say "ooooh yum yum, more please, see all these new things I grow on me when you feed me worm juice" but it says "didnt notice, here's a yellow leaf for you". I've decided to give it my Secret Gardenia Growing Recipe (which upon employing it has never seen another gardenia give me yellow leaves again!), that involves sitting the pot on crocks to ensure super good drainage, daily watering, worm juice, AND the occasional epsom salts foliar spray. Actually i dont think i epsom-salted the Daphne. This has made a SLIGHT difference, not much. But there is NO new growth on this thing. It just seems to be stagnating and giving me a yellow leaf each day. It's in strong morning sun and dappled midday-mid-arvo sun and then shade. As i say, i cant find 'general' instructions anywhere for getting this plant happy. Any advice is appreciated.

Hi Maureen...Oh yes, I battled w/white fly two winters ago..I'm sure they arrived w/a new plant that was purchased. Actually, I find plants suddenly attacked by insects are due to dry air, no circulation.. If you're trying to grow tropicals in a low light situation like you've described, it'll be very very difficult..there's very few plants that will live in those conditions..You might get by w/a Pothos, or heart-shaped Philo, but all plants, other than mushrooms, (S) need light to live. Can you keep plants in the main part of your house? Is the basement the only option? Plants do so much to brighten up cold, grey winter days, clean air, and are just beautiful..I grow everything from citrus, to hibiscus, to gingers, among easier plants like dracaenas and ficus. So, if possible, decorate your home w/greenery, and in mid-winter, smell flowers from jasmine and even citrus. Toni

I got 2 out of 50 Italian Cypress seeds from seedrack to germinate (out of over 250 seeds I got from them, I had, on average, less than 5% germination). They are about 8 or 10 months old now and about 1/2" tall so I think if you are looking for hedging material you are much better off buying mature plants. But otherwise, I live in sub-tropical zone 10...and they seem to like it just fine.