Cost of Heating

Oh dear - what a difficult one - I feel like 'Mystic Meg'... lol. The succulents I think will not be safe if the temps fall below 5 degrees for any length of time. Pelargoniums cut back and kept dry-ish might make it,only watch out for Botrytis. Can't comment on Begonias as I don't grow them. Isn't Lantana normally grown as an annual? - but is possibly like Pelargoniums if you cut it back, and Streptocarpus could be taken in the house, couldn't it? I have certainly over-wintered Pelargoniums except that I lost a lot last year in a long period of frost. This is the punch line. It depends on how low the temps fall for a protracted period. Your plants could survive short bursts of frost but succumb if the frost stays....Good luck!

My own experience about heating – I have tried every thing from log burning to coal – paraffin and electric heating – I even tapped into the house central heating and run a radiator into the green house – but the one I found the cheapest and to give good constant heat was the gas bottle with a two bar gas fire – that is my heating but not everyone will agree I’m sure

Thanks a lot for your comments. I've used paraffin in the past but all the cacti went brown with the fumes!
Perhaps I will grow alpines instead.

aeoniums can cope with low temperature as long as they are dry. stop watering them now and only water if they look realy sad. sun first thing in the morning it good.
as long as the stem dosn't rot it should revive in the spring.

Thankyou Sandra - I will put them inside now!