and here's another pic of the whole group (Calathea at the front left):

and here's another pic of the whole group (Calathea at the front left):

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I thought that these were indoor plants in climates away from the tropics.
There is one in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. Faces west.
Gets sunlight filtered by an 85% rated shade-blind. Watered about once a week. Been there for years.

If you get one of those blast furnace summer days with very low humidity your plant will suffer in an unprotected place.

Maybe there are some tough types??????

I wouldn't have thought outdoors Melbourne climate would have been good for Calatheas, especially from about 6 weeks ago. They like warm, but also not too hot, and high humidity.

Thanks for the replies.

I guess we had a few cold spells a while back, but it hasn't been too bad (except for the crazy storm this morning!).

They barely get any sun - maybe a touch in the morning.

The strange thing is, the other calatheas right next to them seem to be doing fine.

I'm out of my depth here but maybe the plant that is doing well is a Maranta. There is patch of it growing on the floor under the benches of my cold (unheated glass-house).

It got down to about 2C there last winter. It gets watered regularly and gets protection on those hot summer days with low humidity.

The shade rating of the roof covering is about 80%.

Sorry, not much help.

Thanks Arthur. We're certainly no Calathea experts, either.

I can see the resemblance to the Maranta (eg here: http://www.jardineiro.net/plantas/maranta-cinza-ctenanthe-setosa.html)

But I think they are in fact Calathea makoyana (eg here: http://en.hortipedia.com/wiki/Calathea_makoyana), and I think the sad looking one is a Calathea zebrina.

Interesting to hear that yours can tolerate a bit of cold through winter - suggests that it isn't the cold days that are causing the grief for ours. Cheers.