Hi everyone...Thanks for your comments.. That Swan Lake Hibiscus does have lots of flowers but looking at the 2x2 mt shrub from a distance there is more green than white..Actually I have six on one part of the boundary fence Fantasia ( Pink ) then white they are real bushy and look nice.. GH I have the same problem but with Grevillea robusta ( Silky Oak ) they are popping up every where now after the rain from the neighbours tree and thats something I do not want in my backyard are any 15-30 mt high trees.. I like the G.banksii also and I have a white seedling now so I hope that will grow on Ok as its only 2cms high at present.Yes a drop of rain sure does work wonders......Cheers...MM.

Do the tendrils stay green or change to some other Colour? I,ll check it on Google.How did we survive without the web and mobile phones? we,ve had a bit of rain, the grass isn,t growing as fast,the spring bulbs are emerging in Autumn and we,re playing footy in N.Z!! Put the kettle on dear and we'll have a nice cup of tea. chas

I applaud you for the effort you have gone to, to get your grevillea growing in a pot. When you water the pot, perhaps you could try immersing it in a bucket of water, until all the air bubbles stop coming out of the pot. This really is the best way to water pots. Sometimes potting mixes become "hydrophobic" which means they repel water, and it is difficult to water pots from above when this is the case. Perhaps you could try buying a smaller Grevillea banksii, the one in the picture is large and does look like it should be in a bigger pot. A smaller plant might be easier to handle and would have a greater chance of getting used to its situation, early on. If you buy a plant that is reasonably advanced it has become used to its place in the nursery. Then you take it home and plonk it on your balcony and it could go into shock. A word about the cow manure, make sure it is well rotted. You sound like you are interested in plants, perhaps you could do some research into your "local species", I am sure there are horticulturists in Brazil who must be interested in preserving the local plants. Sounds fascinating. Drainage is important too, so let the pot drain when you have done the immersion in the bucket. It is equally important to make sure the pot does not have too much watering. So make sure there are dry periods between watering. You could stick your finger into the potting mix to get an idea as to how wet the mix is. I have seen this tree growing near me and it is huge. Here is a link that might be useful: Plants of Cerrado region.

I too am curious to discover what Olivia ended up with! Jen, if you're getting your flowers from a florist you may have to depend on a florist who will "source what she can" at the time, unless you're planning to do something spontaneous from your own garden or that of a helpful friend or relative. As Olivia points out, flowering times for Australian plants can't always be predicted by a calendar, as the plants themselves devise their own time-tables each year according to when it has rained. So depending on a florist may end up being the most stress-free option. In January there would be plenty of Grevilleas available. Some have excellent vase lives - up to 9 days - and despite what Olivia's florist said, I imagine there are some which would be good in bouquets, BUT I do wonder whether the problem might be a tendency to drip nectar. The same might go for those spectacular grafted gums, with their large flowers of red, orange, or various shades of pink, which would be in flower in January. They'd look good, and I suppose they'd stop their copious nectar-production after they have been picked??? (They are big enough flowers for someone to wipe each flower out with a tissue, if you wanted to make a bouquet with home-picked flowers.) Baeckia virgata, with its tiny white flowers very appropriate for bouquet fill would be available through a florist, I imagine. I think that scrambling lily, Geitonoplesium cymosum would look superb in a wedding bouquet. It has shiny little light-green leaves and white flowers, on long,fine gracefully tumbling stems. It lasts about 5 days in a vase, but I don't know whether florists ever carry it, or use it for bouquets. Callistemons are probably available in January, and Meleleucas. Leptospermums flower around that time. Baurea rubioides (pink flowers) is also a good filler, flowering about that time. Crowea ditto. Flannel flowers have finished up here (Toowoomba) by then, but maybe down south they are later? Paper daisies of various sorts make good dried flowers, if you wanted to go that way. Dried flowers are certainly fuss-free! I've seen some very pretty bouquets made of the various kinds - white, pink, yellow, orange and bronze. Good luck with it all. trish