Interesting. Looks quite healthy overall, though I wonder if the somewhat wonky habit is because the candles are getting hit by late freezes? Does Houston even have that problem? Obviously winters there are normally very warm...warmer than all but the southerly habit of this species. That could "confuse" it into growing too early, perhaps? Various references mention this as a problem for the species in the USA...of course our springs our much more capricious than Japan's. And, again, going back to what I've noted before about collection in foreign countries, it's doubtful the original seed stock of most western Abies firma came from say, the hills of Okinawa, assuming it grows there. More likely the hills convenient to an outer Tokyo metro stop! edit: they do occur on Yakushima, which is pretty darn wet and subtropical! And mild in winter, though still not as warm and sunny as Houston is in winter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakushima

Gfc, I have grown and tasted a lot of avocados in my life,lol, including the fuerte, hass and others whith flavor 10 times better, but I can't grow them here. I had the mexicola and hass in Arizona and I liked them both. Now, before you get your heart set into some varieties I would do serious research about avocados in your area and what can take the cold because there is nothing worse than loose a tree. I know in my area 9b we had to cover or protect the trees from the cold. When they are bigger they are stronger and can take the cold more than a young tree. I just like guacamole that is why I got carried away when somebody mention,lol. Silvia

Barbara, it's a hot day here when it's 80! Mind you, I'm about a 5 minute walk from the Fraser river and as you know large bodies of water will temper the air. It gets a little warmer farther in the valley, by about 10 degrees, but here on the We(s)t Coast we don't get the hot and cold they get further inland in the Interior out Myrle's and Faye's way. To each his own, and while you can dress for the cold, society does not allow us to undress for the hotter days, so, my wife and I prefer this temperate rainforest we live in. FF, the sun's angle is just basic science, the lower the angle the less intense it is. Sun tolerance basically comes from the plant staying turgid enough to continue to support itself provided it stays hydrated. The sun's intensity at our latitude is seldom able to evaporate enough water from within the plant's tissue to cause sunburn. It can and does happen, and it happens in July/August when the precipitation falls off and we're unable to provide enough additional hydration to the plant. Some Hosta species and cultivars are better able to cope with lower levels of hydration than others. For example, most fragrant-flowered hostas are very sun tolerant, whereas certainly for me any members of the Hyacinthina family can begin to look quite desiccated by mid-august if I don't supplement their water needs. As a broad rule, variegated hostas with a lot of white are less sun-tolerant. Hostas with more substance to their leaves tend to fare better, but be aware that blue hostas will go green if in too much sun because their waxy coating -which gives them their blue appearance- melts in too much sun. Pieter This post was edited by pietertje on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 13:47

"I am imagining a climate like London's" Unfortunately, 900 ft. of elevation in NW Ireland is going to have summers a lot chillier and gloomier than even London's. Look at Derry, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry  Summer max average of 66F! They will, however, grow in the climate of the British Isles...it certainly wouldn't have been awarded the AGM if it struggled due to the cool summers. During the ice ages - and that species has survived many - China wasn't covered in ice but it surely had chillier summers. I just expect it to grow somewhat slowly compared to an area with warm, wet summers: for people with smaller gardens, that would actually seem an advantage. In favorable parts of the US, they grow alarmingly quickly. My 'Ogon' (3 ft. to almost 25 ft. in 5 years...and it is slower than the straight species) can easily harden a secondary flush of growth that starts in early September: the amount of warmth and sun I have from mid Sept to mid Nov is probably roughly similar to what the OP gets from mid April to mid October!