There is a nice looking trachycarpus fortunei 8 to 10 feet tall on the corner of caldwell mill road and mountain view parkway (between Spain Park and Valleydale Road). It's on the right side of mountain view parkway in the front yard of the house behind the Altadena South Sign and looks very happy to be there. The are two Sabal Palms on 280 in Chelsea at the entrance to a self-storage business. They are large trees, but one of them looks stressed.

Very nice plants Jacklord! I am always very jealous to see the prices of tropicals in nursuries down south since they are often half the price (sometimes even less than that) than the prices they go for at nursuries here. There are a few nursuries here that have good prices on the tropical "annuals" (I wish they were not sold just as annuals!) but its hard to find good prices on the hardy subtropicals! Thanks Ben! Glad that you like the butia! I really like the variegated Alphinas, I see them all the time in Florida and in California and they are really beautiful plants. I wish I can find the variegated ones here, but Im happy that I at least found the green variety since those aren't usually found here either! The Monstera vine is going to be a potted plant for me. I wish it could grow outdoors, but its way too tropical (Tree Philodendrons might make it with protection though, I always wanted to try them in the ground, but they do well in pots so I guess its easy enough to bring them in). Monsteras are one of my favorite plants also and mine is just starting to get those nice spilt leaves so Im hoping that it will have lots of adult leaves by the end of summer! Your lucky to be able to grow philodendrons in your area, they are a great family of plants! I fogot the name of the tulips I bought, but I think they are early or mid spring bloomers. I used to not really be crazy about spring blooming plants but like you said, it takes such a long time for the tropical plants to start looking nice so the spring bulbs at least give me something to look forward to (and I dont have to give them any care which is another big plus!). Thanks for looking! Im going to post pics of my 2 new plants definitely by tomorrow! -Alex

They're very slow for a few years, but they'll mature nicely over time, even in my part of N.J. seeds from my minors Roughly 23 year old minor from seed on cold, shady North side of house.

Just wanted to check in and say hello to all the great Tennessee gardeners and especially those that arent afraid to 'push the envelope' into the tropical realm. ( Hello Jeff aka BOV ) The winter was still a mild one but we sunk to 4*f above zero one morning on the cumberland plateau in early February. All the palms have survived and the Musa Basjoo bananas should start poppin up soon . I would like to encourage anyone not trying palms to look into these fairly safe standards for Tennessee : Needle Palm : very hardy evergreen palm , low growing . Sable Minor : same as above but dosent trunk . good below 0*f . If you have a little microclimate going on ( or live in the metro areas ) try : Trachycarpus Fortunei ( chinese WINDMILL palm ) ( not chinese fan palm ) This palm has been reliable for me down to a brief -8*f twice but defoliated. I have three taller than my roof gutter lines . Beautiful trunking palms. Camellia Ice Angels , exotic grasses , agaves and yuccas look great in the annuals and perrinals we tennesseeans like to throw into the garden bed. Hope everyone is ready to get back out and get their shoes dirty , Have fun and 'push the envelope' ! Mountain_grown aka Rob-Livingston