Same here Cheryl. It's hard not to be disheartened. I had waited 15 long years to finally have a garden (some of you may remember the photos last Summer of my fledgling butterfly garden, and the butterflies it immediately attracted, made from my 'scorched earth' front yard) and it lasted all of 6 months! My biggest heartbreak is my very large 6 trunked Foxtail Palm in the courtyard. It survived the freezing onslaught early last year but after this winter it is brown and crispy! As the extension guy said to me "We can go for years and years without any severe weather and if so you will look like a hero, but if we have one of those rare periods of extreme cold you will look like a fool!" I am looking pretty foolish right now! There are signs of life around the bases of some of my plants and quite a few volunteers popping up, so all is not lost. Like many others here though, this winter has refined my garden plan to include mostly those brave plants that survived the cold. Anything more tender that I absolutely have to have will be in a container and dragged inside when the temperatures drop! The next garden will be simpler, have more massing of the same plant and I think will look even better! Hope springs eternal! Good luck to all those whose gardens were decimated by the cold. Here's to a warm, revitalizing Spring for our plants and for us all!

Fenius...Can I see a picture of your Samoen Gardenia in the picture you posted next to your cat? I mean, just teh whole plant by itself so I can get an idea of what mine should look like:-) From this angle, it's beautiful. Greengirl.Wow, what a beautiful flower. Do they really have a nice strong fragrance at night? I bought one fron Puerto Rico a few weeks ago and didn't smell a thing. I think it's because the cold got to it in the mail and cause it to die off rather quickly. I was so bummed out! What do you have yours planted in? It seems to love that mix. Robert, can I enable you to get a Cammelia? You should see mine. I will take a picture of it tomorrow. It smells like a funeral home to my Mom, but I beg to differ.lol Oh Rosey! That orchid is spectacular! I love the colors. Now, all you have to do is add another to give your orchid a partner:-) Kemistry... Thank you so much for your help. I really hope mine does well. It's in a sunny window and for 6 bucks, I have to say it's very tiny. It looks like a cutting actually in a little 4 inch pot, sheesh! Lemon eucalyptus? Here we go again. A must have, and where did you get the seeds? lol

I can help you on 2 of them: Tabernaemontana holstii is also called T. pachysiphon. It has larger leaves, and it's flowers have 5 strap, crinkled petals and it's fragrant. to look best, no more that partial sun (dapple sun through a high pine tree canopy is good), and it like fertile and moist soil (so do use mulch!) A slightly acidic soil is better as it will prevent the leaves from slightly yellowing, i use the good palm fertilizer to make sure there's always ample micro nutirnets for it. Fagraea berteriana is known as Pua Kenikeni. It can handle full sun, better with relief from mid summer sun in afternoon! and make sure has enough soil moisture. It may get rather large for a shrub (upwards of 8-10') kinda rounded inshape, but still with floppy branches, flowers are fragrant too.

Yeah, I've got expensive taste, but unfortunately not the bank account to go with it. Thanks for the link, that looks like a cool site. I was hoping they'd have seeds of that Licuala, I could probably start them okay, but I don't see it on their price list. Bummers. I like anything with that kind of mottling on it. Both sites have a Pinanga (blue fruit) that has that too, maybe I'll get some seeds of that, but in the meantime, I guess I'll just have to be happy with my Werrauhia kupperiana and Vriesea ospinae v. gruberi.