Welcome, Johnny! Here's what I'm thinkin' 'bout the dealio. What kind of tomato is that 'un? If it is a hybrid tomato, you might be disappointed at the results. If is an heirloom (aka open-pollinated) type. This website is a rich source of knowledgable people, so take advantage of it. And for Pete's sake, if you fail, try again, and again... Nobody ever learned all this stuff overnight. And most of all, remember.. "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." Best!

I agree! If I want something that is exact I'll dig and divide rhizomes. But I love to see what I'll get by growing from seed. I have a gorgeous sun gold colored canna that the original seed came from an Omega. It has the heighth of the Omega. The hummers are quite attracted to it and it's offspring. And I can't tell you how many variations I've gotten from Journey's End. Admittedly I have had some cannas that didn't come true that I didn't like. But I just yanked them out and tossed them. I had one that had varigated foliage and a lovely pink flower (similar to the above canna flower) that when started from seed only gave me green foliage and is shorter. But it does make for a great potted canna. Ditto for a salmon canna where the original plant was 3 to 4 feet tall, but the ones from seed are only about 1' tall. I love it!! For the most part I really enjoy waiting and seeing what I'm going to get. Unfortunately, with all the cannas that I have, I'm starting to run out of room in my gardens. Jenna

Canna seeds are tough. For best germination, they should be nicked. To nick them, you can use a file, a grinder, or even a drill to drill into the seed a little. You just want to break the hard surface of the seed just enough to see a little bit of the creamy white interior of the seed. After nicking, soak the seed in water for a day or two. You should see the seeds swell as they soak up the water. Then plant in moist soil. Keep the soil moist and warm and your seeds will sprout. If started early, like during winter in a greenhouse, cannas grown from seeds can bloom the first year. However, the seeds from the hybrid cannas do not produce plants like the parent plant. They usually revert back to the small flowered type with traits of both the wild canna and the parent. Once in a great while, you may get lucky and a viable canna will grow from one of those seeds, but it doesnt happen often.

Do you know what kind of avocado you purchased? I don't think the Hass avocado would do well in your climate or mine (which are the same.) The larger avocados at Publix are often sold under the rubric of "Florida Avocado." Clearly if you buy one that has fruit on it from a grower you would stand a better chance of getting some avocados soon. There are a number of places in Winter Garden that sell them. I believe the one that is mentioned most often here as being successful in our growing zone is the Brodgon. I would like to see your question of the likelihood of bulbs taken from the fruit growing into a flowering and fruit-producing plant. I have a seed or bulb that was taken from Silvia's tree and it is growing quite well now. I don't want to plant it and find out ten years later that it will never produce fruit. The site I linked will give you a lot of information about growing avocados in Florida. I noted that some varieties will start producing fruit within three years. I had a very nice one given to me but somehow I managed to kill it. I think I may have over-watered and perhaps over-fertilized it. Here is a link that might be useful: University of Florida link