hi rob.. my titanums probably take the lowest they really should.. range of 19 C..thats the lowest.. and thats when they are outside..and early morning..coldest part of the day.. currently they are all inside ..and they get 23 C nites.. around 27 C days. they do just fine..im sure the tubers dont grow as fast and large as if they were grown in greenhouse with 28 C + conditions.. but i dont live in tropics..yet..LOL.. and no big greenhouse.. YET ..:) from my reading.. the germans are very successful at growing titanums in slightly cooler temps.and gettting them to bloom at smaller sizes..than here in USA.. i read of european titanums blooming at 40-50 pounds where in USA..most i read about are in 70 +pound range.. also..the europeans seem to grow there tubers in smaller pots than we "typically " do here in USA.. i use pretty big pots..but ive thought on this. obviously the europeans are VERY successful at growing titanum.. and with the other "tropical" "giant" amorphs.. decus-silvae and hewettii seem to have there own unique quirks at growing well.. gigas no so much.. my gigas so far seem to be pretty tough ..:) and..im certainly not as skilled.or experienced and knowledgable as others are.

CP, Lizards are so cool. I envy ppl like DVL who have them all over. Hawks and owls are on my top most favorite list. Coyotes are cool but I no longer trust them. We were ambushed by a pack of 4 one night down in the gully where we would go to fish and have a bonfire for the night. It was my husband, neighbor Bill, my kids and my dogs Jett and Bandit. Bandit was my 100lb. german shepherd. Jett and Bandit were able to keep the 4 at bay til one of them jumped my husband. My husband broke its neck and Billy was able to break the other ones neck. Bandit killed one and Jett severly injured the other. All that within 5 minutes. Never so scared in my life. We imediately took the dogs to the vet to be checked out. Jerry and Billy only had a few scratches, nothing serious......amazingly. What a drama that was. Needless to say, everytime we go to the gully now Jerry and Billy will bring their pistol, loaded and ready. Dawn

I'm on two acres in semi-rural central Massachusetts, bordering conservation land (wetlands). This is the first time I've thought about itemizing what I've seen in my four years, here. It's a long list, and I'm sure it's just a fraction! We have a pond, and keep half the property meadow. (Maybe, by some standards, the whole thing is a meadow....) I've been putting up birdhouses, lately. We see (in rough order of how interesting...) great blue herons, red tail hawks, egrets, a large flock of cedar waxwings, redwing blackbirds, barn sparrows (how do they know it's a barn?), downy/hairy/piliated/red-breasted woodpeckers, orioles, juncos, nuthatches, and the usual finches, bluejays, cardinals, yadda yadda yadda. A wood duck down the road, and I wish he'd visit. Spring peepers (I can't wait for them to come back!), leopard frogs, other various frogs and toads, garter/ribbon/maybe milk snakes, 4-toed salamanders. Turtles nearby, but not at my pond. In the pond, various snails, leeches, more frogs, infinite insects (especially mosquitoes). In the orchard, every pest an apple tree has ever known. Mice, groundhogs, rabbits, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks. Coyotes, foxes, deer. Neighbors have seen a bear and reportedly minks, but not me. Beavers have us surrounded, but they are not my own yard. Some lovely spiders, and some plain ones too. Lots of paper wasps and various bees. More mosquitoes. In fact, mostly, we have mosquitoes. And worms. --Jonathan

The trouble with lists of frost hrady and dry hardy plants, is that they vary so much from area to area. Where my parents-in-law live in the wimmera, their sandy soil and lower rainfall means plants like lavender and rosemary will die if they aren't watered, whereas mine are never watered and do extremely well here on my heavier soils, colder climate and higher rainfall. My echiums, which are listed as 'frost sensitive' have been frosted many, many times and are growing like crazy things. I love them. As for trees - the five acre front of my block is planted out to about 1000 decidious trees. I love them at any time of the year. The silver birches look great in any season, as do the ornamental pears, with their shiny red bark. How would you ever enjoy the twisted limbs of the Scotch elm if the leaves didn't drop off once a year? We mulch with straw and manure. The large groves of birch trees were not watered through the drought and did very well. We are slowly manuring and mulching every tree. The ones we have done are growing like crazy and need very little attention. As for water - we don't get town water, so supply our own. I use it however I want to at whatever time of the day I want to. If anyone doesn't like it, come here and tell me face to face. (...and I will squirt you with the hose ;-) You want to save some of the planet's resources? Stop buying pre-prepared food in multiple packaging. Buy 'whole' food only and make your own. My absolute top plant for dry, un-mulched, un-manured sandy, clay soil? Ornamental grapes. They look good in winter too. Finally, I have lived, worked and gardened in every outback, stinking hot, dry and impoverished place in Australia. We moved here because of the climate and rainfall and I intend to plant, water, manure and mulch whatever I damn well please. If that offends anyone, as my nephew would say - talk to the eyeballs. Or try gardening in Paraburdoo without watering, mulching or manuring anything and see how much fun gardening can really be! Robyn