Most of mine I let go dormant and stay dormant thru winter Swayback. Some new one's I added last year, like portora, I purchased late so I didn't think they were big enough for that and I grew them on. She's about 4' now and her latest petiole is almost twice as thick as the previous. Others I grew on were pups and to be honest not much thrived in the basement except portora and Z. aethiopica 'White Giant'. The others just hung in there but they've started to take off now. The spider mites were a real hassle as were these little black flies. Neem oil and spraying everything down with water 2 or 3 times a week helped alot, but what a pain.
Sun really isn't an issue here, except the lack of it. Everything I've tried seems to do best in full sun although some do fine in part shade. I added moisture crystals, dry, to the soil for a few last year and they seemed to like that. I'm wondering if amending with sphagnum peat will be OK. I don't know if they mind really acidic soil though.
When you talk about them getting roasted in the GH, do you mean over the winter and spring?
