Hi there Hazel, nice to see you around again. I've not been on GW much of late as I have transgressed to another forum more suited to growing palms in the UK...my latest fad!! My plumies are still doing OK, but during our November hols to S E Asia and Australia one seems to be rotting on its tip, due to the cold I guess...keeping these tropicals snug during the winter is a real chore....why DO we do it?? I have grown both Caesalpinias and the larger Delonix, but like yourself, struggle to get them very far, they always seem to die during the 2nd or 3rd winter...if they ever get past the first one that is!! Hopefully you will get some useful information in a short while.

In the meantime, Happy Christmas to you and Jim and keep those plants of that windowsill...cough-cough!
Best wishes, Gill.

Hi Hazel & Gill. I haven't seen either of you around lately. I hope all is well. I usually get very good germination from Pride of Barbados and the larger Royal Poincianna. They always look terrible when I move them but recover. Mine drop their foliage when the temps drop (I keep it in the 50's at night in the greenhouse during the winter) but it grows back when it warms up. The problem is that I usually end up forgetting about them and they freeze outside. This year I gave my saplings away before I ended up killing them.

I've kept POB and RP's started in the fall/winter in the greenhouse in 4" pots until it was warm enough to move them outside. They get somewhat root bound but take off when I transplant into larger containers. Since it's cool at night in the GH they are dormant and don't put on much growth, if any.

My plumies didn't bloom well this year. We had such a long cold spring they broke dormancy almost a month later then average. I'm storing half of them bareroot this winter. I had 30 pots and they were just taking up way too much space. Hopefully they'll survive. If they do I'll store all of them bareroot next year.

Have a happy holiday and New Year.

Hello Gill and Karyn, How nice to hear from you both.
I haven't been on any forum for some time now.
I'm afraid with the low temperatures and light it makes me wonder if growing these tropicals is really a viable proposition, but it's almost a compulsion to acheive the impossible!
I'm afraid the amount of seed germination has caught me out as I can't keep them all in 4ins pots due to lack of space especially as when I returned from holiday much to Jim's disgust my daughter had bought me 4 new Vandas in vases as part of my bithday present. I'm now soaking 10 of them in the bath at the moment as their weekly treat!
Hope winter will soon be over and some plants can go back into the greenhouses.
Wishing you a Happy,peaceful Christmas and New Year to you all.
Hazel.

Hello again Hazel....and Karyn too! nice to chat with you both once again. Slightly OT I guess, but having yesterday checked my 8 Christmas plam seeds I found in Kuala Lumpur last month....they are all sprouting, what am I playing at once again? Yes Hazel, it's an obsession to try and get these darned tropicals to grow in our temperate climate. Hope you get the the CP's to flower as we saw some amazing ones in Singapore....unfortunately, I forgot to get some seeds from them, but have plenty more stuff to try haha!
Good luck to the three of us!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you both and anyone else out there.
Regards, Gill.
PS if you want to keep in touch you can always email me as I don't pop in here very often these days.