I'm not sure if your full sun conditions would be a problem. I know some of my sedums are more drought tolerant than others. The Cape Blanco & some of the "cubby" type sedums can take drier conditions than the "leafier" types such as Dragons Blood, which seemed to take longer to settle in. I hand water my other garden beds and give the walls a light mist as I pass through anyway. I know that the semps & sedums that have access to more soil in the bendy areas of my walls do very well with very little supplemental watering from me. The relative economy of this type of planting makes it easy to experiment. Have fun!

Hey all, I agree Andy. It's so good to compare notes and ideas and experiences from around the globe with like-minded people. Gee Andy, your Hoh. lanata sure is a different beast to ours! I've never seen anything like that in Aussie circulation. Anyone? Your backyard looks good - and now I might recognise your half-disguised face! :-) Looking forward to seeing that salzmannii/floribunda dwarf the tall boy. I photographed another one of our Hoh. lanata (?) in flower, at Pedro's yesterday - what luck and timing! I paid more attention to its shape as well. It does not have the bulbous shape of Dennis' plant, nor is it "furry" and narrow like Andy's plant. It is more open with wide, frosted leaves. The above photos of the Aussie Hoh. lanata do not capture the true petal colour. These new ones are more accurate. This plant is about as high as Andy, from base to top of the branched inflorescence. The leaves are approx. one metre (3') high and wide. Aussie Hoh. lanata (?) Pedro thought Dennis' plant might be Hoh. vestita. See photos below of mine by that name, in flower. It is a much smaller plant, and more bulbous in form. Hohenbergia vestita Dennis, I sent this thread to George, who has kindly provided some very interesting information regarding your plant, albeit no definite ID, as copied and pasted below. "Regarding Dennis' plant. This plant was from a batch of seedlings grown from Brazilian seeds. From memory the seeds were supplied as Hohenbergia leopoldo-horstii. I was never told if the seed was collected from wild plants or cultivated plants, so in reality they could be anything from a species to a hybrid. Perhaps even a variant of the species from a certain population. There was only a very small amount of variation amongst the seedlings, mostly with the foliage. Nearly all plants came up bottle-shaped with reddish-bronze foliage. Leaves are held stiffly upright but do not have that hard cardboard-like feel that some Hohenbergias have. All produced thick, soft undeground runners when planted in the ground. I selected the plants with the best shape, vigour and colour and culled the rest. I also held on to one or two of the oddballs from the batch. A very small number of seedlings came up with slightly greener foliage and a very small number came up with hard, darker leaves more typical of what I know to be H. leopoldo-horstii. There was no variation in inflorescence colour or shape. Dennis should put his plant in the sunniest spot he has to get the best shape and colour. It is a very hardy plant that grows well in the open ground, especially in the sandy soils found in Natal. Hope this helps. George" Thanks George! It's a small world, after all. Andy - whatever you have, I'd be keen to see your narrow furry Hoh. when it flowers. I keep needing to be reminded that inflo details are the major identifying factors. The same species can look so different in size, shape and spines in various localities/colonies in their natural habitat...but that ol' floral spike reveals all. Not being into measuring peduncles, or such, I appreciate the work of those who are. K :)

Hi Heather, I just wanted to make a couple of comments. It seems most of your questions and concerns were addressed quite well already from other members, inlcuding tips about compost and mulch which I also really reccomend. About the mango. I can't tell you for sure because I live in the American Midwest, a completely different climate from yours! However, I love tropical plants,and especially mangoes as they are my favorite fruit, hence me being on this forum, so I've read as much as I can on them and have tried to grow tropicals in anyway possible, and I've visited Hawaii and South Florida often. Mangoes are grown all over India, and many parts of India are very hot and dry, with temperatures getting into the hundreds(farenheit). Supposedly they fruit better that way. I think the leaves should get used to the sun as it gets older. And as long as you are irrigating it and mulching it,and all of the other plants you plan to plant, I really think it should be ok. I would really try frangipanis again. Three of the four that I grow seem to be VERY drought tolerant and tough. It can get very droughty here in the summer and they are in pots, plus it's very windy too, so they dry out very quickly. I have a book on them and it mentions that frangipani trees grow wild in the Central American deserts, in rock crevices, among cacti. And I've noticed that they grow very well by the ocean. And they cast lots of shade. I would definitly try date palms. They are beautiful, love hot, dry weather, are salt tolerant, and produce delicious fruit. Antother palm that you could try is the pindo palm or jelly palm. They are supposedly very heat, cold, drought, and salt tolerant. And the fruit can be made into jelly. The sea grape is another option that might work. I believe that they are almost as salt-tolerant as coconut palms, and you can eat the fruit too. Autograph trees are also mildy salt tolerant. The sea almond mentioned above is a really good idea. Try a dragon tree, I think that would proabably thrive there. There are tree-like yuccas that you might want to consider. In fact I think a lot of succulents and cacti as well would be the way to go. Apparently Crinums are salt-tolerant too. There is also the sea lettuce. Bromeliads- I believe the species would be hoyas and puyas(I'm not a bromeliad expert). There are cycads that you could grow, and there is one in particular that thrives in hot, dry areas, unfortuneately I cant think of its name right now. Good luck with your gardens. I hope you can create a little paradise!

Hi Glen, I accept that you have chosen to live in an extremely beautiful part of the world, but surely you knew it was a cyclone risk when you planted your garden ? At the risk of alienating the rest of the board, I'm going to make a couple of predictions: - the rainforest will be back (barring any further storm damage) within 3-4 years. Whether its 'the same' as old timers remember it, I cant say. - there will be more cyclones - more frequent and potentially more deadly - along the Qld coast over the next 50 years as global warming intensifies - people will continue to appear completely unprepared for nature's fury - no insurance, no stockpile of food and water, no disaster plan - for as long the community accepts that this is somehow 'natural' and acceptable. I say all this with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, from the comfort of my lounge in Rocky, but this wasnt the Asian Tsunami. The citizens of Innisfail had at least 24 hours warning that a Cat 4 cyclone (later Cat 5) was bearing down on their town (from memory, they knew it was in the Coral Sea at least a week prior). The media maintains that many had become complacent because previous predictions had resulted in little more than strong wind and heavy rain, and that looked like being repeated in the eerily quite hours leading up to Larry's arrival. The latest from Innisfail is that the Mayor has a new problem on his hands - the huge influx of donated goods/food/water has meant that businesses in the town arent able to get back on their feet. I accept that losing one's home must be completely devastating, but many of the people interviewed by the media were, IMO, welfare cases long before the cyclone. As for reports of fruit pickers taking the $1000 'grant' and leaving town, hopefully karma will catch up with them. The Queensland spirit *did* make the news, but it seems that (now homeless) people who consider others 'worse off than me' dont make as much impact as those who cry out for food and water 24 hours after the storm. When you've waded through child beggars in different parts of Asia, seeing people queue outside a Coles supermarket doesnt quite have the same impact. My own 'mean-spirited' nature hasnt stopped me from participating in fund-raising efforts for the victims of cyclone Larry, but there is a vested interest inherent in that choice. Whether I personally agree with the wisdom of rebuilding a town on a bullseye or not, the people of Innisfail (and the other towns mentioned earlier) intend rebuilding their town, and that costs money. In good years, bananas and sugar return money into the Qld economy, and some of that money makes its way into my pocket. I'm also one of the mugs who gave money to help rebuild Darwin after Tracey, but I havent seen anything in the media about contributions from other states. Finally, and I'm sure this has flashed through all our minds, if it's going to take several hundred million dollars to get a...