Breadfruit has trouble growing even in Southern Florida, which is technically tropical (Koppen classification Aw). As the above poster said, it needs to be grown with some protection. Then again, they only try growing the seedless type from root cuttings, that is, from the same clone. I bet that if someone took the time to grow some of the seeded type from various places there may be enough genetic diversity to breed/find a variety that does well in Southern Florida. Breadfruit unfortunately needs fruit bats for pollination - and I don't think there many, if any, in southern florida. Then again, they're very fruitful in Hawaii, which doesn't have many fruit bats (they have trouble pollinating durians there, which also need fruit bats). You'll want to research more on pollination. I know that coconuts can grow easily at least as far north as Palm Beach; they're everywhere when I go there. However the lethal yellowing disease is common. On the coconut trees in the backyard of my family's house there you can see all the holes where they regularly hammer in those bullet casings with preventative antibiotics. I think the township even pays for this service, but even with these measures two of them died. With regards to frost/cold weather, all citrus will do fine without any protection in mid to southern florida. As a matter of fact, citrus fruits might have a little trouble attaining color in southern Florida because of the humid tropical weather (citrus fruits prefer dry weather for full on-the-tree ripening) - though it isn't anything to worry about.

My brugmansia came back after the summer heat. Here it is right now and it's getting quite big. It does very well in the shade and it's been giving me quite a lot of flowers lately. Yes, elephant ears work here. I'd suggest getting some from the alocasia family, not colocasias. I've tried colocasias, they grow well in the spring and fall but they just cannot take the heat at all in the summer, in my experience. Here's one of my Borneo Giants in full shade They will die back when it hit below freezing for more than a couple hours, but if that happens, don't water them again for the rest of the winter or else the bulb will rot. Just wait for them to pop back up in spring. Same thing with Cannas. If you're going for tropical, get some Cannas, since they LOVE being in full sun here. another one I'd recommend is the Chinese Parasol Tree. Big foliage and can take some sun. I have mine in morning sun/full shade in the afternoon. The plant loses its leave in the winter and goes dormant. Here's mine now after a week from coming back from dormancy. It's already grown about 6+ inches! Birds of paradise are great as well here in Phoenix. They're frost hardy down to 25-26f I believe. Split-leaf Philodendron are great as well. Just plant them in the shade. Plus you can find these easily at HD or Lowes. I wouldn't risk planting a castor bean though since you have pets. They drop a lot of those red spiny bean pods all over, and from what I've read are very poisonous. I'm not sure about the brug's toxicity though. Their flowers might be poisonous?

Carolb_w_fl hi You are welcome, good to see you liked those books. I tought to tell those books so others can also read them. Those are online books and can be read on internet. They are little old but maybe you can find something interesting and useful information in them.

Hi Raza, I live in zone 9 in central FL and we had temps in the mid to upper 20's and a few 30's for appx. 8-10 nights in a row. I have several mango and lychee trees planted in the ground...Some of my trees had severe damages(some I'm not sure if its still alive) a couple of my mango trees only had minor damages. I protected them all pretty much the same...had lights or catalytic heaters underneath them and covered them with frost cloth and sheets, yet some were "severely damaged" any way. I'm thinking location had a major factor(micro climate) in my yard. I do have one Container mango. I have it in a 24" pot that I brought inside the garage, I used a "dolly" it weighs a ton, but all I did was bring it inside the garage and didn't have to cover it or anything and was completely fine for the 8-10 days I had it in there. I would open up the garage when the sun came out and it was above 40's and brought it back in at night. I would do what Mango kush suggest and just bring them inside for the 1-5 days a year that you need it. Check out the tropical fruit forum like he said, lots of people grow their mango trees inside. Good luck! Here's mine when it had fruits last summer. I repotted and trimmed it in August...Its in a 24" pot now.