It was about 44 here yesterday (so I was told) and my garden really suffered. Even things that should be tolerant of very hot weather suffered badly. Most things got burnt or bleached and the vegetables and tomatoes cooked. I pity the vinyard owners up on the hill. We couldn't do anything but stay inside and drink water all day. We don't have airconditioning but that wouldn't have been any good for half of the day because the power was out! I hope we don't get any more weather like that. Donna.

Alison it was 43 in Melb yesterday more of my hybrid teas fried than others. We had a beautiful day of rain on Sunday which helped the firefighters no end. Even our dogs only went outside for toilet breaks on Saturday!

It reached about 39 here in Creswick on NYE, but has cooled considerably since, and we had good heavy rains on Sunday. It is currently cool with a heavy overhanging mist, and I'm taking the opportunity to do so me early morning diging in the iris beds. I've done an hour and am just having a fast break for some breakfast. I must say I didn't notice the heat so much, and we did't use the air conditioner until evening, so we and our guests could sleep. Like YQ - my rose blooms fried but there are more opening now.

I hope all you Southerners are safe from the bushfires. It is bad enough to lose your garden but it would be worse to lose your house. Like Alison, I hope the weather improves for you very soon. We have had it hot up here too, high 30's and to make it worse, high humidity. Plants are suffering as it is hard to keep water up to them. The temps over the last couple of days have dropped to the low 30's and humidity has dropped so isn't as bad but still dry.

Its going to be a high humidity one today Tuesday GH they said on the 6am news it was 25 and the humidity was 85% gosh we don't need that, another day of 35 I can put up with but not that high humidity, yesterday I managed to do some work in the garden raking leaves and its on again today...I have not used the A/C yet, but if it got to the 40's believe me it would be on...But saying that you poor Southerners, must be feeling the heat really bad and I hope it cools down for you to a livable condition....And like GH said as long as you are safe from the bushfires thats the main thing...Cheers..MM.

I have one very fried and frazzled garden but that's okay, the weather has changed and we had some really good rain. It's the people in the bushfire zones I am concerned about, especially those who live off the land.....Cheers, Dee.

We are so used to long hot, humid times up here but it has been too long and hot this time.we finally talked ourselves into an air conditioner, old softies huh ????? I hope and pray that all in the fire areas are safe ..... I remember my Mother and Grandmother in Melbourne , when the northerly winds blew putting rolled up towels under doors and blocking any little spot where the winds came in.... I guess when you are not used to the heat it really hits you hard and your gardens too, hope the roses survive and bloom for you. Marion

Good news. Three yowies expired. Two old adults and a new born.

yowies all survived down here - 5 young'n's. Well not actually yowies - more like me-yowies, but still found invading my rose garden.

Hi All, If anything, the coming years will be even hotter, I'm afraid. My advise is to ensure that you have a canopy of the toughest trees you can find (Allocasuarina's come to mind), with lots of large shrubs in the understorey, and your most vulnerable plants at the bottom. As many of my plants have only been in the ground for six months, its tough to watch them frying, but my attitude is that I'll wait until March then plant out Melaleucas etc to get that tough 'cordon' installed before I re-invest in plants I really treasure. Watching my tree ferns burn to a crisp (even under my Poinciana, and with twice-dail watering) has been particularly tough, but I have a new respect for Cordylines, Bromeliads and Philodendrons - very tough customers. On a more positive note, the Grevilleas seem to be enjoying life in the morning sun - its the backyard which has taken the brunt of Rocky's notorious afternoon blast furnace. Lets look forward to March, and see it as an opportunity to plant species which will take the heat next summer. Cheers, Artie

I am one of the lucky ones safe from bushfires and I have huge Melaluca trees surrounding my garden and the heat is no different than other summers just a tad too early In my garden nook under complete shade it was 46.7c And my garden survived with very little damage Bev

The heat and bushfires certainly make you re-asess?? your planting. I have a very mixed garden with mainly natives as cover and underplanted with broms, philodendrons and a host of other sub tropical shrubs and various succulent species with a mix of perennials thrown in for good measure. I am planting more aloes, agaves, bulbs and any green cover I can particularly around the edges as I am aware that if a fire comes many of the natives will explode into flames. I will not be replacing dying wattles and have already removed many conifers and wont be sad if more succumb to the drought. Natives are great BUT they are intended to burn in fire and are not appropriate around houses in areas which are becoming increasingly dry and hot. Next time I will plant a fire break of photinias and other fire retardant plants around the entire property. Any natives will be planted well away from the house and surrounded with retardant species as well. I have also had experience with a fire in a bamboo clump and it burnt extremely well, so if you are in a fireprone area ( and arent we all when it is this hot and dry) think carefully about what you plant.

I agree, that's why I like the tropicals as they are less inclined to burn and with careful selection and mulching, they don't rely on a lot of rain once established, but still have that cool green feeling. I find the other 'natives' eg grevilleas, etc, don't give that same 'cool' feeling.

We still have a few wattles that were originally here and a couple of temporary trees to provide shade but once the canopy has grown properly will be taking them out.

15 and drizzle here yesterday, 11 and drizzle the day before, similar outlook for today. So nice to get a bit of lousy weather for a change, even if it is ruining the 3rd test. My garden and I are loving it.

The 44 degrees day was devastating here... most shrubs out around the neighbourhood have scorched leaves.. my Fuchia.. Zygocactus cuttings (they just started to produce new leaves too) ... camelias all been scorched shrivelled. If it wasn't because of work i would be cooling them down with a hose spray every hour of the day if i had to. Lets just hope theres not many of these 40+ C days this summer.

Let me give a plug to fire retardant natives; typically rainforest species and including dry r/f. These are usually fire susceptible, which is the reason you will commonly see a clump in the bush growing in a rocky outcrop where they are less vunerable. Their leaf litter is also less likely to burn than some dry mulches. I'd include a spark barrier of appropriate vegetation as one of the must-have measures. Pity the good fact sheet DNR used to have on the topic seems to have disappeared. I'd have a paper copy but it's elsewhere. Hard to beat a good 3-5m syzygium etc for that job!