Growing Murraya in Melbourne

[Waltron]

Does anyone have any advice on growing Murraya paniculata in Melbourne?
My parents dug one out of their front yard about 2.5 years ago and I discovered the stump on their rubbish pile a few days later. I threw it in a pot with soil from their rubbish pile and it grew like mad.
A year later I chopped it back and put it in a bonsai pot and it hasn't moved since. It's still alive, it's in good soil and last summer I checked the roots and they looked nice and healthy. The leaves are light green/some bordering on yellow. How sensitive are they to frost or full sun as bonsai? Any thoughts?

[kcpoole]

Plenty in the gardens in Sydney get frosts and never had an issue I think.
Mine is in full afternoon sun year round and no problems seen with it.
they are quite slow in a bonsai pot so make good larger bonsai

Ken

[KIRKY]

No problems with frost in Melbourne they are slow but hungry for food and water. If your leaves are yellow suggest liquid feed they will soon start pushing Spring growth.
Cheers
Kirky

[TimS]

Should be fine to grow in Melbourne, i would only be careful if you were at elevation or in a location where frosts are regular or significant. It won't grow as much as compared to up north in Queensland, but it should grow acceptably well.

[Waltron]

Okay thanks guys. I'm in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne and we do get heavy-ish frosts (killed one of my figs last year). I'll put it in a more sheltered position, ramp up the food and see how it goes.

[Waltron]

We had two frosts during the week, one night it reached -4 and my murraya is now brown! At least I now know what the culprit is. Looks like I may lose another fig also.

[KIRKY]

Where abouts in Melbourne are you? I'm in Hawthorn yes we had frost however no problem with my Figs or Murraya.
Just trim the frost bitten Murraya once it warms up a bit and it will reshoot. The fig should be fine too unless the roots are damaged it should come good once the weather warms up. Just curious do you water at night?

Cheers
Kirky

[Waltron]

I'm in Doreen. When I lived in Kew I never had this problem, but the frosts were basically nonexistent compared to what I've copped out here over the last 2 1/2 years. Lesson learnt.

[KIRKY]

That explains it, as a quick fix you can cover your trees with bubble wrap on the nights you know you are going to get frost
Cheers
Kirky