Martin Sykes7/2/04 1:10
om

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
We're concerned
that the OP's plants may be suffering both from lack of light and central
heating. A cooler and more light filled room might be better for them. At
present, they might be trying to struggle with the sort of heat they'd
expect in summer months but without the light to encourage and sustain
development.

They should be getting plenty of light now but the heating could well be a
problem. They're on a table in a south facing bay window so they're getting
about as much light as I can give them. If they're not too tender, I could
put them outside in the greenhouse which very rarely gets near freezing or
would that be too cold? I'm planning on putting them outside on the patio in
summer anyway.

If you can keep them above freezing, that should be fine. If you can't be
sure of the temp in the greenhouse never going below freezing, then a small
'frost beater' heater (if you have electricity) in the greenhouse, would be
good. We have a Meyer's lemon in our small conservatory greenhouse and
several panes blew out in the last storm but while it did take the cold and
the wind, it never got frost. That said, we had frost a few days before the
storm and the ice on the pond in front of that conservatory never thawed all
day but it did the next day. The conservatory isn't heated but it is well
planted up so may well give a very small among of micro-climate protection.
The Meyer's lemon was fine and Ray says that one year it did get the frost,
lost all its leaves and came back just fine. I'm telling you all this
because it has to be a question of degree (probably literally!) and I don't
want to encourage you to do anything that will endanger your trees. If you
feel confident that they will survive the usual lowest temp in your
greenhouse, then put them out. But if you live in an area which gets
prolonged successions of frosty days, I wouldn't risk it and most especially
not with young plants.
We very, very rarely get that here and have even had a Fuchsia boliviana
survive a day of frost here and there in the garden. Unfortunately, in that
particular instance, the amount of sun it got wasn't enough for it to flower
in the shelter of the tree canopy that kept the frost from it! It is always
interesting to experiment and we do it all the time but then it doesn't cost
us much to start again and we always have stock plants in reserve. Mind you,
taking cuttings as a precaution is a good thing for any gardener to do.

We have over wintered Salvia involucrata while S. confertiflora died and
there is a Gordonia growing outside which Ray was once told would *never*
survive outdoors in mainland Britain. But that is growing among a lot of
shelter from other things.
OTOH, I have grown things in my gardens in Jersey which are too tender to
grow outdoors here in most winters and which survived for several years -
making me feel very smug - only to have them wrecked by a couple of frosty
nights and days. Polygala, Pandorea and Leonotis are those that spring to
mind as particularly sad losses.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)