Your Cordyline fruticosa 'Oahu Rainbow' will be fine. Cordylines grow well in Brisbane. 'Oahu Rainbow' does have thin texture leaves, so give it protection from the sun and winds.

A long list. We are at Birkdale just SEast of Brisbane.
Have the Gingers Spectablis and Chocolate. Sent up North for 3 Tapeinochilus and they have survived the worst winter we have had for years. I have 30 plus different Costus and all are OK, some better than others. The Red stem Costus does well.
Heliconias, have selection of Orthricha, Bihia, Caribea, Stricta, and Augusta and all but one or two have come through winter. Some of the Strictas were burnt badly.
Check out my on line photo album to see the Pics or if you are in Bris on 20 21 Nov we are having an Open Garden. Look for our Garden in the Sunday Mail probably on either 7 14 Nov.
Photo album is http://img52.photobucket.com/albums/v160/Ianrobert/
Ian

Hymenocallis 'Thai Spider' will die back completely in winter but should reappear in spring,its a bit tricky to find though.

H.caribaea and stricta should grow for you but in my experience they are not the best species for Brisbane as they don't tend to flower very well (there are a couple of exceptions like Jamaican Dwarf) Try some of the caribaea x bihai cultivars such as 'Kawauchi' and 'Jacquinii'. H.caribaea x pendula 'Hot Rio Nights' does very well in Brisbane. H.bihai 'Claw 2' flowers year round for me here and should flower for much of the year in Brisbane. H.angusta is very cold tolerant and should grow like a weed, red and yellow flower best.
I wouldn't really bother with H. pastazae, I didn't have any success when I was in Brisbane or Cairns. It has very exacting requirements.
The H.chartacea cultivars are quite tropical in their requirements so I wouldn't bother. There is a hybrid between H. chartacea and H. platystachys that is apparently tolerant of the subtropics. H. collinsiana has similar habit and shape and will grow in Brisbane.
The H. indica cultivars can grow but will struggle with the cooler winters.

In the past I grew and flowered Etlingeras in Brisbane but it takes a few years to get good flowering size on them.

As Ian mentioned most Costus should grow down there without any problems.

The native Tapienochilus grows slowly but steadily there along with some of the PNG types.

Most of the Zingibers will grow there also including all of the Beehives.

Hope this helps.

Andrew.

thank you all for all your replies - you have been most helpful. If anyone has any more info on any of the other plants on the list, I'd love to hear it.

Out of interest, I've heard that Heliconia griggsiana performs really well in the cooler conditions of the subtropics (a friend of mine in Hawaii said it actually prefers a slightly cooler climate). So I'm guessing that Brisbane would be a good place for it if this is true. The cultivars 'Full Moon', 'Blue Moon' and 'Harvest Moon' all look so great!

Is this species available in Australia? and has anyone had any experience growing it?

I don't think that it is available unless it has been imported in recent years.

Hi all,
Will the following grow in glamorganvale hills ,20 min past ipswich Queensland.No frost + 5 degree in winter if so, how well do they perform? are ther special tricks for growing them.
Can you tel my please, who to prevent root rot.
Collinsia . Splash (champneiana)
maya blood. jaquinii. pendula. holliday. richmond red.
caribbean sunset. kawauchi. lingulata. otthotricha.latispathia.
Regards lineke

HELICONIA

That area is generally fairly 'Heliconia unfriendly' but you may have luck with Lingulata and Red and Yellow Holiday as they are quite cold tolerant. You could also grow H. subulata, schneideana and H. rostrata, H. birdiana, H.spissa would be worth a try.

I'd be careful to read the 'frost-tolerance' info carefully for any location west of Oxley in Brisbane's West. Toowoomba is a lot more extreme than Ipswich, but it gets progressively colder as you head West.

Andrew mentioned the Chatacea Heliconias. I have the 'Extra Sexy Pink' and it is extremly healthy, expect it to flower this year.
I tried the 'Sexy Pink' but this one is really struggling.
Got to try these things though.
Ian