Yeah the calathea is beautiful Toni. No its leaves aren't velvety, but they sure do give the appearance of velvet. We have one that is outside when we moved in here, that was so beautiful that I had to get one for inside too :p. Well, in my area, the coldest we get is around 28 F, for maybe 5-6 hours. We often get between 30F & 36F for up to 8 hours on a winter night. It's not extremely cold, but our temperatures drop very quickly at night, and stay cold all the way till around 8am the next morning. This can go on for the entire of winter :(. Ok I normally reduce fertiliser/water during winter, so Ill just cut it completely for the cactus/EE, thanks for the tip! Hmm, I don't know the type of the hibiscus, its a single orange flower, with a red centre, grows to 2-3m. Hey Chaz, I will wrap my frangipani then! Until what size do you suggest protecting them? We have a few frangipanis around our area that are a bit older (like 3 m high) that seem to handle the cold pretty well. Is it just whilst they are young? Thats good the lady palm can take low temperatures...I have barely any heating, and minimal insulation, last year my Dieffenbachia 'tropic marianne' got cold injury in my living room. Bloody wussy plant that one!

Matt et al, I have been smelling C. fragrans periodically but I could at times only detect a mild fragrance. The flowers are very beautiful with the Apocynaceous whirl and straight squared off petal tips. I visited Girardinos (rare flora)and mentioned to Sid my disappointment with the plant's fragrance. Sid said there are actually two species in cultivation. C. fragrans which is mildly fragrant and C. panangensis which is fully fragrant! I bought one of the later, which was about a foot tall in a 3 gallon pot. It had two inflorescences. It sequential bloomer so it buds continue to develop and it continues to flower for some time. The flowers look the same as C. fragrans. It is not wafting but a large plant with many flowers probably will produce scent detectable away from the flowers A warning, however, these can become huge woody vines Happy sniffing

Hello, I live in the West Midlands and find the weather very variable even in one day.I am growing all my plumeria in the greenhouses at the moment with the seedlings average 6months old still on undersoil heating cable on top of sand.The roots are very happy as are the leaves -also the undersoil heat has made the rooted cuttings happy too- but come late summer to autumn I will pull them indoors and let the leaves fall off all but the smallest ones which don't lose their leaves, to accommodate them in a heated bedroom.You would have a phenominal heating bill to heat a greenhouse to keep them going well here in the Midlands.Good luck with your growing.

I’m on the mornington peninsula in Victoria and have killed every frangipani I’ve had. This time I’m determined. The frost has started so I’ve bought a little cheap greenhouse from Bunnings and put it in that but also put it on our sunniest wall next to our hot water heater to hopefully create some humidity. Luckily also, this position happens to be in front of our toilet window so I can still keep a really good eye on it! It seems to be working so far and it’s dropped to 2 degrees some mornings. I also just read on another page to surround it with rocks. The rocks, when hit with the sun retain the heat and keep it a bit warmer. So I’ll be doing that today!! It’s leaves are going a little bit yellow, does that mean it needs a fertiliser? I’ve lost maybe 4 so far but still seem to be getting the little new growth in the middle, I figure they are good signs?