Antarctic beech will surely be your best bet.

Yep, N. antarctica is the only one with much chance of being winter hardy, but it probably won't like your summer heat at all.

Resin

Anyone know the answer to my second question about transporting across hemispheres?

Yep, N. antarctica is the only one with much chance of being winter hardy, but it probably won't like your summer heat at all.

Truth be told, I'm not a fan of our summer heat either! Close to 100F today!

Yes: At first they may be out of sync but most kinds soon get in step. An exception is Grevillea victoriae which blooms in northern cultivation during the same months it would if still back in Australia. Summer there, winter here - a summer-blooming shrub that never made the change to different months when brought to a different hemisphere.

I'd suspect if moving a plant from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern hemisphere, early December might be best. The plant would be dormant and would most likely have been dormant long enough to be able to break out of dormancy and enjoy the rest of the growing season, which would be late spring to early summer in the Southern hemisphere at that time. But I suspect most plants transported from one hemisphere to the other were done by seed(which can be stored and then planted when appropriate), or were done in modern times when greenhouses can be used to control the climate the plants are in, and thus slowly be adjusted to the outside season.

A bit earlier than that is better - about October for north-to-south, or April for south-to-north. The Nordic Arboretum Expedition successfully moved young Nothofagus seedlings from Chile to the Faroe Islands in April a few years ago.

Bboy - "An exception is Grevillea victoriae which blooms in northern cultivation during the same months it would if still back in Australia. Summer there, winter here - a summer-blooming shrub that never made the change to different months when brought to a different hemisphere" - does that still apply to seed-grown plants? If yes, then there must be some other explanation.

Resin

I'd think that moving a plant from North to South in October is too early for many(most?) plants. Here most trees and shrubs at least aren't completely dormant until early November and don't begin entering dormancy until very late September. I've moved some North American native trees growing in pots from being outside to cool storage in October and then to a warm growing area in late October only to have them either 1)Respond well, but later on, by about March they fry up and die, or 2)Not respond much until late January and then later fry up and die around June. Then again I didn't do this with a lot of different species and I have noticed some squirrel planted Pin Oaks(Quercus palustris) in pots with tropical plants, which I moved directly from outdoors(well before any frosts) to a warm growing area and they didn't drop their leaves and put out new growth in February apparently none-the-worse. This could be because of their age, or their genetics. I've noticed that often times seedling Oaks sometimes do this even outdoors in the ground(not losing their leaves in winter). It's often proposed that Oaks originated in tropical climates and some species have later become adapted to temperate climates(most Oak species are sub-tropical today) and this behavior could be a hold over from Oak's tropical origins, but who knows for sure.

It appears many temperate species need a certain amount of dormancy or resting time to remain healthy, while a few others don't appear to be as sensitive. It would be interesting if anyone in the Southern hemisphere knows about or has imported Northern hemisphere plants directly from somewhere in the Northern hemisphere and when they did it. The only ones I know about being brought from the South to the North, have all been done by seed or cuttings which were put in pots in greenhouses where they could control the growing conditions, including temperature.

I wouldn't think that moving in April would work - the tree (from the S. Hemisphere) wouldn't have had any time to be dormant yet...the only way I see it working is immediately at dormancy, like April, do about two months of cold storage then warm it up in June outdoors in the N. Hemisphere.

"I wouldn't think that moving in April would work - the tree (from the S. Hemisphere) wouldn't have had any time to be dormant yet"

Experimental evidence is that is does work, very successfully. And not small sample sizes, either: over 1,000 seedlings of mixed species moved to the Faroe Islands in late April/early May 1975, and 6,500 Nothofagus seedlings moved to the Faroe Islands in mid April 1979, with close to 100% survival. See e.g. S. Ãdum, A 10 year trial with South American trees and shrubs with special regard to the Nothofagus spp., pp.125-156 in Højgaard et al., A century of tree-planting in the Faroe Islands, Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn, 1989.

Resin

Do they just burst right back into growth like nothing happened? Is it perhaps the day length that kicks them back?

I'd imagine as well that seedlings do better at this than mature trees.

What's a good source for these trees and/or seed? Preferably a North American one just to save shipping cost if nothing else.

"Do they just burst right back into growth like nothing happened? Is it perhaps the day length that kicks them back?"

I'd guess yes, but the article doesn't say.

"What's a good source for these trees and/or seed? Preferably a North American one just to save shipping cost if nothing else"

I'd think that the big west coast nurseries like forest farm would probably stock an assortment of Nothofagi. They might only sell on a no returns policy, or perhaps even refuse to sell, if they think there's a high risk of failure in your climate.

Resin

I'd think that perhaps the study with the Faroe Islands might be somewhat different than if they moved plants from more continental climates to Northern hemisphere continental climates. I'd think that since both the climate of origin as well as the climate in the Faroes is not strongly seasonal(i.e. cool summers, long cool relatively mild winters with only moderate temperature changes from summer to winter, etc.) that the plants are much less reliant on a dormant period than plants from more continental climates. That's just my educated guess, since I can't find any information involving more continental climates or no greenhouses where the climate can be controlled completely or seeds were moved and not plants.

This link is to a New Zealand Nursery which routinely ships field-grown, bareroot plants, gives all the details. The requirements for quarantine are such that one really has to want the plants desperately.
I've never seen Nothofagus anywhere in eastern US. As others have said the heat & humidity here have been unbearable over the last week. My suggestion would be forget Nothofagus and choose something suitable for mid-Atlantic.
Sam

Here is a link that might be useful: Duncan and Davies

"I'd think that perhaps the study with the Faroe Islands might be somewhat different than if they moved plants from more continental climates to Northern hemisphere continental climates"

That could well be true. It would be difficult to test other options though, as there is no continental climate anywhere in the southern hemisphere!

Resin

I've never seen Nothofagus anywhere in eastern US.

Why do you think I want one? ;-)

Well, a few parts of South Africa and South America (Argentina, Paraguay, interior extreme Southern Brazil) come close to being considered continental climates. Lots of perennials from South Africa do well here in Kansas as perennials(more than you'd think).