Toni: Luke is just a 'mutt', as they say. The best guess is part border collie and part blue-tick hound. We adopted him about 3 years ago from the elderly neighbor lady. She'd been walking him and fell and was hurt. She asked us to just watch him for awhile, but my then 8 y.o. DD really fell for him, and we ended up keeping him (her adult kids advised her to give him up, and she obliged.) It has worked out nicely, as she still gets to visit him, and occasionally he'll wander over there (we live in the country) and she'll have him spend the night....lol...funny! He was probably at least 2-3 years old when we got him, so he'd be 5 or 6 now, but still has a lot of 'puppy' left in him. He weighs about 75 pounds, so not exactly a 'lap dog'! It has been made clear to Luke that he is NOT the alpha-dog...and we humans aren't the ones who clarified the point, if you know what I mean! Harley (the 11 y.o. small dog)tries hard to keep up with Luke..it keeps him 'spry'! Our dogs chew on grass outdoors, but they have never bothered any of the indoor plants in that way - Harley will occasionally bury a treat in a large potted plant (grr) but that's the only way they've ever really bothered my plants. The cats chewed the ends of the leaves of my Beaucarnea but never any other plants. Maybe the dogs just know better than to mess w/Mama's plants?! (I like to think so)(Ã) jasdip...I'm still thinking 'previous cold-damage', but just my opinion....keep us posted!

In your zone, fall is approaching and the light has become less intense, so it's naturally slowing down - you will need to bring it indoors in another 6 weeks or so.

Welcome to the forums and i hope you will find great pleasure in your gardening. It's a continual learning process, so there are wins and losses along the way. First can I say that whichever family member managed to dig up your couple of mature birds of paradise, deserves a medal, because these plants would have to have one of the deepest and toughest root systems! I shifted a baby one once, and it took me a crow-bar and a great deal of sweat! They are often started by removing suckering new plants, but also division. In either process I suspect there is some damage to the root systems, and that's probably what you are seeing now. Please don't worry too much, these guys are sooooo tough that they are almost certain to survive. Just, as you say, its not an ideal time of year, as they won't be in growing mode to recover. I'm sure the problem is only initial transplant shock. Try a couple of doses of seasol, that sometimes helps. Cut off the leaves that are struggling, and as soon as the flowers are past their prime (or do so now - they last well as cut flowers) cut those off, too. The position and drainage you've chosen sounds fine. If there is any chance that they are actually getting more sun than they were in their previos home (even though the tems are getting wintery, the Qld sun is still quite strong) then you might help them "harden up" to their new position by giving them some temporary shade. This could be a bit of shade cloth or even some unwanted other greenery - shrubby stuff, cut off and stuck in the ground nearby to shade them. If you have watered them in well at planting time, don't overdo the water from now on, or any damaged roots that are now recovering, may simply rot. Normally they would not get much rain over winter and they are better on the dry side in that season. Also, don't waste fertilizer on them yet, that would do more harm than good. There's almost no large plant, that will not suffer a little set-back from being completely re-located, we home gardeners usually don't have the equipment or the man=-power to dig up a big enough root-ball to make it that easy. But most plants are also very forgiving, and eager to survive. I think yours will be fine in time, don't stress if they look much worse before they look better, you may have to wait till spring or summer to see an improvement. New leaves, will be a good sign at that time. good luck with them.

It doesn’t seem to be too widespread... I was going to say sunscald if it’s on just the one side. The side with most sun, perhaps?