I have a sugar maple growing in our backyard that I planted as a seed (collected in Barrie, Ont.) around 1992. It got about 10 or more feet tall, then we had a severe winter around 10 years ago and it was killed down to about 1-1.5 feet above the ground. But I left it alone, and it is now probably 15 feet high, with a multi-stemmed trunk, more like an upward spreading bush. I know of some better specimens in Edmonton about 30 feet tall. I have a butternut that is about 15 ft. tall by 15 ft. spread, planted as a seed in the early 1990s. It seems healthy and has produced nuts for the past 5 years or so, but I know it isn't fully hardy because it gets a big vertical split in the trunk each winter. I tried a Star Magnolia but never got it to bloom. It came back each spring for about 3 years, but a little smaller each year due to winter dieback, and I eventually took it out. I've tried black locust (Ontario seed) but it winterkilled each year above snow-line so I removed it. I tried dwarf Catalpa (seed from Gardens North) said to be hardy to zone 4, but it also winterkilled above snow-lines so was removed after several years. My six hybrid tea roses have been much more successful, winterkilling to the ground each year but re-growing quickly so they reach 3 feet or so in summer, with loads of blooms. Those have been in almost 10 years. Then there's Edmonton's famous horse chestnut growing downtown, now something like 75 years old. There was a program a few years ago to distribute seedlings from this tree and get them planted around the city, but I don't know how successful that was. George Pegg Botanic Gardens northwest of Edmonton has a nice black walnut tree that produces nuts. And you may have come across the posts from that guy in zone 4 in Colorado(?) who grows palm trees outside, though he does use an elaborate heated-box system to protect them during winter.

"Amazing garden Juan, looks really awesome." I am glad you like it Linval. Sadly I have a feeling the citrus trees will eventually succumb to the yellow dragon disease. You can see one of the tangelos is kind of struggling. In one of incredible ironies I have found it easier to grow apples in Central Florida rather than citrus. All you need to do is make sure the apple tree is grafted onto M-111 root stock and that it can tolerate the high heat in your USDA zone. As it turns out most apples don't really require a whole lot of chill hours and many can adapt to our climate. I have found the varieties that were developed in Australia and New Zealand to be good choices for us here because they can tolerate the heat. Apart from fireblight which is always a concern for any tree on the rose family you also have to worry about fungus and diseases because of our humidity. So picking a russetted apple that is resistant to fungal diseases and scab is a good choice. The Arkansas Black and King David apple trees derived from it supposedly generate their own natural waxy coating that protects the apples from fungal diseases. Cheers.

I know that this is very old, but that's not a Foxtail palm, nor a Queen palm. That's actually a Florida Royal palm. Both are very beautiful trees, however, the Foxtail palm has fronds that resembles the tail of a fox. Just out of curiosity, did the palm survive? i live in Houston, Tx, which is zone 9a like Jacksonville, and my Foxtail died during the arctic blast back in 2014. However, my Royal is still alive and recovering. Here's a pic of my Foxtail before it froze. I replaced it with a Queen, but I miss my Foxtail very deeply. I can't bare planting another one and having it die on me in a few years, whenever an unusual arctic blast occurs.

Hi, I haven't been posting lately, but I live in Central Texas. I have been growing hostas for about ten years. Dancing in the Rain was one of the first ones I tried to grow. It didn't make it, but I have had good luck with American Sweetheart. It is one of the first ones up, it holds its center, and it grows well. I wish it had a little bit thicker leaves so the snails and slugs didn't chew it, but I really like it. Night before Christmas grows well, too but it darkens in the center some in the heat. This is AS surrounded by NBC.