Thank you so much for my "award", this is always the first forum I visit, looking for "aussie" natives. Ever since I visited the Kew garden in London's Australian exhibit, many years ago, I have been interested. Thank you for these lovely "eye candy" photos. Inga BTW, Several types of "Kangaroo paw" have been on sale in Ontario this year.

OK - as a 'native plant policeman', I'd like to make the following observation : a large number of the posters who have suddenly appeared to support Kirilisa dont contribute to this forum on anything remotely resembling a 'regular basis' (if at all). If the welcome brigade actually took the time to read a lot of the posts in the 'Australian Native Plants' forum , they might realise that it contains some of the most thoughtful and detailed advice to be found anywhere on the Net. Even the 'zealots' dispense reams of valuable advice to those who havve a question regarding Australiian plants, and most of us have 'agreed to disagree' when it comes to the natives vs exotics debate. As someone who tries to advocate a middle ground, I often find myself caught in the crossfire in any such debate, but I'll give the 'natives only' folk this : they know their plants, their soil and their climate. I'd be williing to wager that my fellow 'police' could give Kirilisa more information on her Plumeria than 80% of the welcome committee. I accept that my initial responses to Kirilisa were uncalled for, and I believe that she is genuine, but somewhere in the mix we need to dispense actual advice - I believe that Kirilisa received sufficient advice within the first few posts to have her postpone any 'early retirement' plans for the Frangipani, so I expect that the rest of us can just go back to our rose catalogues and leave this forum to the native police.

My experience with Hymenosporum flavum is from a California perspective, and they grow well here, but do seem to prefer sandy loam soils over heavy clay soils for best year round appearance. Did the leaf drop start to occur after either a prolonged dry period or a cold snap? These two things can cause them to drop foliage here, as well as the roots staying too wet. In fact, this tree can often struggle when planted in pure clay, although as they get larger they seem more tolerant. They also tend to drop leaves with the onset of colder weather, and push rapid new growth when it warms up again. If you know you don't have a drainage problem, I'd suggest you wait to see if it pushes new growth once the height of winter is past, although if you are located in Sydney right on the water, your winter couldn't be all that cold to cause leaf drop. Maybe try an organic or slow release fertilizer to see if that helps... There is also a noticeable difference in vigor of plants within a block of seed grown trees at nurseries here, and I always look for the healthiest specimens over the larger ones when selecting this tree for gardens. It often seems that straggly plants never amount to much here, even after they have settled in. I love using this tree, as it can bloom multiple times from spring into fall, never gets too densely shading, fills the bill when something tall and narrow and evergreen is wanted, and the fragrance is heavenly. Surprising to find that a subtropical rainforest species from Queensland does so well in a summer dry Mediterranean climate, and is even quite frost hardy, easily tolerating down to 22F freezes here, with no permanent damage except complete defoliation.

I planted a hymenosporum flavum native frangipani in full sun. Of late I am seeing that the leaves are turning brown veins first. Then the whole leave turns brown and falls off. The leaves from the bottom are going first. The plant however is still pushing out new growth at the crown. It is planted in mostly clay soil. It is a rather tough spot as there is no protection from wind also. Most of the people have put the callistemons in such locations and have called it the day. I am trying something ambitious I guess. New leaves coming up. Lower leaves dying off. It is beginning of winters. So I have stopped watering it that frequently. The plant is well mulched anyways so I am sure there is enough moisture. This is beginning of the winters here and I was wondering if this is normal.