Thanks so much, I enjoyed that. I have heard that the Atlanta Bot Garden also is growing roses organically. May their tribe increase.

What a great read! Thanks so much for sharing. I have a friend who lives in a small town north of here. He doesn't follow Chris' strict protocol, but he does occasionally help himself to plants from abandoned property. I'm off to read the blog and do some shopping. ;)

That is interesting, esp. the fact that people don't know how diverse natives can be. I was raised in So Calif, and have seen the exotic gardens people put in....then complain about the time and water they take!

As some here know I have had 2 large windmills in the ground going on 5 years, with a smaller one added 2 years ago. As stated well by jimhardy, tropicalzone7 et al, there are huge variations of climate within zones. Oklahoma City is technically the same zone as NYC and although we got 14 inches of snow in one storm last year and had sustained single digits, the two areas are vastly different in climate. I think we should agree that a hardy palm or any plant for that matter should be rated for a zone by its ability to thrive in that zone continuously without protection of any kind. The first 2 years my Trachys went unprotected and suffered bad damage from the wind and freezing rain. My Butia lived under a tarp with a 100 watt flood light happily for 2 years but died with the same protection after 3 days of temps below 12 degrees. I am confident all my hardy palms would not thrive without protection. I even lost a big Bismarkia in a pot from the heat last summer! Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms