Bumping this thread to report that...not surprisingly...the Azara is dead as a doornail. As is my Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' or whatever it could be. FWIW it was definitely hardier than 2-3 other Escallonias I'd tried...'Frades' being one of them...and had persisted since 2006, having variable winter damage each year but returning quickly in spring. I suppose it could still sprout from the roots, but the lowest stems, unlike any prior years, are like driftwood now. OTOH, both of them were some of the only Chilean shrubs to not mind our summers, and, when I'm in the mood again (not this year) I will probably reorder them. I think the novelty of having a plant from every continent is appealing; though I have a few Brazilian plants like Fuchsia regia (which might not return, but I doubt it...I've observed multiple times that even young plants put down roots 10-12") there was something really cool about being able to say a plant came from Chile. I might as well wrap up my antipodal/California plant deaths here: Grevillea victoriae - utterly amazing, looks better than some zn 7 rated rhododendrons. Is acting like it wants to be become a tree, so I've started limbing it up. Grevillea juniperina - more injured, but still alive Eucalyptus parvula - had been one of the better Eucs. for me. E. neglecta just gets roasted by the wind here. E. lacrimans was the hardiest but died after 14" of rain fell over 2 days one September. Anyhow it got to about 15' tall. After first round of 3F, was showing very little injury and foliage still smelled alive and was turgid. However, cold outbreak after cold outbreak took their toll, and the last time any of it seemed alive was probably late February. Then, the cold March finished that off. I suppose the roots could sprout, but I doubt it. Ceanothus 'Concha' - dead; had been in garden in since 2007 and showed light to moderate injury. In a raised bed on a south wall...about the best circumstances for it, because it protected it from winter wind and summer rain. Probably will retry, some day. I really wish someone would do more east/west crosses, or even just offer 'Henri deFosse' which is like a more saturated 'Gloire de Versailles' and would have been more likely to survive the winter in that same spot. Fremontodendron 'Ken Taylor' - dead, although it still had some green foliage until this week. (NB we are having yet another cold outbreak - the 15th since this winter started? But I luckily escaped freezing again) Was in a similar spot, but even more protected from rain by a wide eave on my garage. Even managed to bloom a couple years. I think it went into winter already dying, because last summer's consistent moisture - though loved by camellias and rhododendrons - was not to its liking and it had started to show leaf drop in autumn. Unlike the Ceanothus, I'm unlikely to repeat this experiment, but it was interesting. This winter was off-the charts cold. I've had, for example, a Rosemary 'Hill Hardy' since early 2006. Never shown a lick of damage. I was warned a few years ago by that seasoned impresario of midatlantic experimental gardening - initials A.H. for those of you in the know - that 1994 completely destroyed a giant rosemary of his. Mine was about 8 ft. X 6 ft. and 4ft. tall. So back in 2010 I pulled a runner from it and planted it right next to my house's foundation. (The mother plant was still somewhat sheltered, but about 8' from the house) Well, the mother plant? Utterly dead. I just took a chainsaw to it, to clear it out. The main stem had gotten to 5 inches wide, but even down in the layer of dead needles, the stems, trunks and runners were completely dehydrated and easily split open by pulling. Dead as can be. But the plant about 8 inches from the foundation still has some green leaves, albeit only 10-15%, and looks like it will probably pull through. (if the stems were killed, the green would no longer be, especially given the cold windy spring) A Cupressus arizonica 'Carolina Ice'? So cold and windy here that the foliage on the north side of it is burned! oh btw - not tree/shrub related, but on the antipodal front...a collection of rare montane Rhodophiala species has survived. Not the typical oxblood lily, but I do have one and it survived too. OTOH, it's looking like certain South African bulbs and rhizomatous forbs are gone, including some borderline priceless ones I'd rather not discuss in detail. This in a way is not surprising: eastern South Africa can have the odd cold outbreak when a front penetrates far to the south, but there isn't snowcover, generally, - Tiffendell ski resort has to make most of theirs and they are in the part of ZA most likely to have permanent snow cover. Winters can be so dry even in the montane areas that there are brush fires. OTOH, the southern tip of South America is much closer to Antarctica, and those bulbs probably come from places where, even though there is snow cover, the ground still freezes. So yes some things like Dieramas can survive the air temps taking a brief dip to 0F. While this winter had permanent, deeply penetrating cold, even with the snowcover, it was too unlike what they are used to. Cold, moist and frozen solid for almost 2 months, when what they want is mild, dry, and unfrozen.

Wow, I forgot I shared that Tx. She walked down the hall... then came back, asked "is SD going to be ok if I oust her from 'that' room" and I said "oh, no, sorry, you and dad are in DD's room". And then continued what I was doing. I didn't even look at her. But the energy sure was weird! I could "sense"/"hear"/"feel" her muttering to dad.... She slept in the spare room last night and DD and Gpa slept in DD's room. DH told me not to put her in there but I just didn't feel up to anything. I did not change the sheets or make the bed though. Usually I would. But I am just barely well right now. When they came back last night I said "there's homemade chicken soup in the fridge" and they weren't interested so I directed them to a nearby restaurant. Yay me. I was up coughing all last night. This virus will not go away. hahahaha the funniest thing happened though. SM came in the house last night and then I heard her and dad talking and she said something and then he said, I have to get the bags out of the car first and then she said, oh, well, are you going to want me to help with that? and he made this noise... huh-ma-gib-a - ish noise and she said "oh, (trilling laughter) of course you're going to want me to help" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Bi-zotch! Quick Poll: Would any of you just expect your DH to carry all the bags in? If so, is that because you have a physical condition or a pre-set division of labor and you will be doing something else that is contributing to getting "it" done (whatever you need to do as a family to get ready/settled) In other words, would you ever go somewhere on vacation and be sitting on the couch yapping while your DH carried all of the bags in the house?

The change caused too much confusion with posts especially for the novice users. If remember correctly, I had seen too many succulent related posts inadvertently posted in “design dilemma” and if you look at how far back those posts go, one will realize some of us seemed to have been affected by this earlier. This is especially true for the mobile platform. It is a nightmare. I was curious why noone complained at that time. Today i have to resubmit my pics 3 times before I can successfully upload more than 3 pics. I thought my mobile carrier or phone was acting up. :-)

@opaone: your numbers, while still higher than my estimates, are at least within an order of magnitude, which in this business probably is reasonable correlation. I agree that this could rise to a significant concern with 10 people really cranking away in a poorly ventilated room. So we're on the same wavelength. @spurpura: you are correct in that I've not invested in air quality monitoring devices or hired PhD's to test my house. But my calculations are grounded in simple physics. The only assumption I have made is in the estimate of CO2 production during exercise, and that was from an academic sports physiology laboratory, authored by a PhD and published in a peer-reviewed journal. If you have figures showing that CO2 production during exercise is roughly 10 times higher than my estimate (which is what would be needed to support your observations), I'll await the citation. There are really only three possible scenarios: You are measuring local concentrations of CO2, presumably close to where you are exhaling. Your PhD consultants and their equipment are wrong. There's an exogenous unidentified source of CO2 infiltrating your exercise room. Enough of that dead end discussion. But...as to your original question, I think you're on the right track. As noted upthread, our 1200 cfm hood runs through a straight run of 10" duct, about 25' upwards, with an attic-mounted Fantech LD10 silencer and FKD10XL blower. It measures 60db (LCS weighted, ear level, roughly 4' from baffles) on high. So we hit the mark you are shooting for and I expect your setup will too. Good luck!