I could spare a few small cuttings of Hoya chinghungensis, if you could spare a small cutting of H. pachyclada. I prefer the variegated one, but green is fine, too. But, I'm looking for ones with the red edge only. This spring, I expect to have some rooted H. Maxima (red corona), as I have a ton of runners which should leaf out in spring. Any chance you have a variegated DS-70 in your collection? I have many in your list, so just ask.... Kathy

OK, wattleblossom - your garden sounds absolutely spectacular, but there are several points I'd like to make: 1. 'Your mileage may vary' : many of the species you have successfully grown, be they from Oz or wherever, simply wont do well in large parts of Queensland/Northern NSW/NT. Thats commonsense, but its easy for new gardeners to get drawn into the images presented by the (south-dominated) gardening media. Its a tribute to you that you have found the plants that thrive in your area. 2. Both sets of plants will be as 'low maintenance' as you want them to be, and that comes down to your preferred presentation. For example, pruning is a must for many shrubs, but how many need to be topiarised ? We can create hedges with exotic conifers or a species such as Melaleuca, but how can we prevent dieback in the centre of our new hedge ? This is one area where an informal planting scheme wins hands down, at least IMO. 3. From your description, it seems that you have two clearly delineated areas, and plants belong in one or the other by courtesy of their origin. I accept that this works for you, but have to ask if we need to build such arbitrary boundaries. I've made the point several times that I believe many of our rainforest plants are good companion plants for Vireya Rhododendrons, Gardenias and similar glossy-leaved exotics, and mixing dry climate plants from similar latitudes is already a well-worn path. Proteas are a slightly different story, although my 'high NPK' experiment still hasnt killed my tropical grevilleas :) 4. I also struggle with the insect-attack issue : none of us likes to see their evil handiwork, but I've been very lucky to date. Grasshoppers and caterpillars currently seem to be be enjoying exotics and natives alike in my garden, but its also rewarding to watch a magpie flying off with one of the marauding bugs protruding from its beak. Its currently very dry in CQ, and I suspect that this has pushed the insects into our gardens in larger numbers - they werent a problem in Summer. None of this makes my opinions any more valid than the next persons, but I do think that tight integration between Australian and imported plants is the key for the future of our native plants in commercial horticulture (as opposed to conservation). It will be a sad day when city kids can only see native plants in a botanical garden or arboretum. You or I could build an incredible garden using only plants from Madagascar, but would we be willing to limit ourselves to that one (admittedly sensational ..) island ? Who knows - Bunnings might start shipping truckloads of Madagascan plants after our gradens make the glossies :)

Frank, (and other members - but please note that I am particularly delighted to have found another forum member from Toowoomba) There are Bat's Wing Coral trees on the downhill side of Prince Henry Drive, which I assume to be naturally occurring. They are scrawny specimens compared with the glorious things we saw in the Aramac-Muttaburra area recently, which were a mass of red flowers and shrieking lorikeets, on a good big rounded canopy, in the most miserable country! I don't know whether the locals I've seen are just young, or whether that's how they grow round here. Atalaya hemiglauca goes well out there, too. With the predicted big global-warming fuelled dry-out of our climate, those of us who plant trees like this may be feeling very self-satisfied with our future planning, in twenty or so years time! On the same grounds, I think Brachychiton rupestris and populneus might be better than the others where a green tree is wanted. Their fire-resistance could have a much-needed firebreak effect when bushfires roar up the range as they were doing in Oct 2004. I have a suspicion that Ficus obliqua might be better than platypoda, but am never quite sure which tree it is I'm looking at when I see a fig in a sunny spot some hopelessly dry paddock around here. Do you know? Despite having written the book, I still have so many things to learn! The trick to identifying them is to catch them in fruit... To my great delight, some celerywood (Polyscias elegans) have come up spontaneously ("volunteered" as the Americans say) in my garden - and this in mid 2005 - Toowoomba's driest winter for more than a century. The area where they apeared is not one that I ever water. I suppose this is my reward for re-establishing a bit of a canopy. Tree cover of some sort is probably the "natural" environment as opposed to the dairy farms that would have been here for a century until supplanted by suburban sprawl. Someone else's comment in this forum about Angophora floribunda being a sign of a clean aquifer is interesting, isn't it? I wouldn't have thought of it as a rainforest tree - not even "arid rainforest" (love that expression)- but this is probably my unreasonable tendency to exclude Eucalypts from the "softwood scrub" category. It's hard to know where to draw the lines, isn't it, between "softwood scrubs" "dry vine scrubs", "dry rainforest" "marginal rainforest", and "rainforest". Especially when some of the same species seem to appear in the full range. Geijera parviflora definitely fits in the dry, sun-hardy end. It has a reputation of being very hard to germinate and establish, but I think there are local nurseries which have it. Love the plant, and it must be as tough as old boots once established. Are you growing it? I believe Petalostigma pubescens would be hardier than triloculare. In practice, I find that different people look at the same trees in my yard (I bought some labelled triloculare, I think) and are about evenly divided as to...

Hi Aggie, I think I've mentioned it several times - moved into my new home in mid-June, and I've been planting solidly since (!). My biggest mistake was to place too much faith in the huge Poincianas at the back of the block - the angle of the Winter/Spring sun and the semi-deciduous nature of Delonix has left me with some pretty sorry tree ferns, and my mature palms (2m plus) have all suffered with wind and sun damage, but they seem to be coping. Its not all natives - I've been seduced by a lot of exotic tropical plants - but I've tried to plant natives where possible. Carpenteria, Macarthur, Solitaire and Bangalow palms over an understorey of lillipillies, cordylines, ferns and a mishmash of Austromyrtus, Backhousia, Nandina and other species, with Lomandra, Emu Bush and Liriope at the bottom. Give it another year or three :) Cheers, Artie