I don't think you will have much luck with Protea subvestita in Rhode Island conditions even if you do manage to find a source. This species is more used to just occasional freezes in habitat and not weeks at a time, and also won't like the humidity in summer of your location. I'd recommend growing more commonly available species as container plants, and pull them into a cool greenhouse for the winter, one that also has fans going for good ventilation in winter and is heated to 40 or 45F at night in winter and into the 60'sF in the day. They would do well for you under these conditions as long as your summers aren't too humid in summer, and you gave them the special soil mix conditions and fertilizer regimen that they need as container plants. There aren't really any South African Proteacea shrubs in the Protea/Leucadendron/Leucospermum species that are going to do well with East Coast USA conditions, although they do manage to grow them in the display greenhouse gardens at that large private botanic garden outside of Philadelphia, I can't seem to recall the name. Essentially they are growing them as a controlled greenhouse plant that seeks to replicate summer/winter Mediterranean climate conditions and is full of typical outdoor California garden plants such as Acacias, Agapanthus, Proteaacea shrubs, Tibouchina, etc. They do heat the greenhouses to keep them above freezing in winter, but not tropical hot house warmth, and also cool the temps in summer so they are not so extreme as outdoors in summer. The few Protea members that aren't native to South Africa's Mediterranean climate zones are all montane species that would be accustomed to cooler nights in summer due to altitude, and little winter rainfall, no weeks long subfreezing temperatures without daytime warmup, and daily temperature fluctuations year round rather than hot nights. This is difficult to replicate at sea level along the East Coast USA.

I would suggest smoke treatment and then sowing at this time of year. It germinates in habitat in fall with the start of winter rains, and usually in response to fires, and San Diego climate in winter should be ideal. Also, be careful with the ph and water quality issues, as it is probably only suitable in more acidic granitic/sandstone soils in your area, near to the coast. If you live near protea farms or avocado farms, and well drained coarse granitic soil, you probably have ideal conditions. I would be very careful with irrigation if your water supply is Colorado River water.

Actually, cut flowers of Proteas, Leucospermums and Leucadendrons are not all that hard to find at higher end florists, or go to the Flower Mart in San Francisco. Flora Grubb nursery in the Bayview District of San Francisco always has a great selection of Proteas, Banksias, Leucadendrons, Leucospermums, etc, with many of them already in full bloom in one or five or even 15 gallons sizes. Annie Hayes of Annie's Annuals is a personal friend of mine,(as is Richard Ward of the Dry Garden), and you're right, she does have a great selection of South African plants, with nursery prices being cheaper than mail order. She typically doesn't have the widest selection of Proteaceous species from seed, but does sometimes have some juicy things propagated now from cuttings of stock plants at the nursery, such as Mimetes cuculatus. If you do make the drive up from the south bay, you can easily hit all the nurseries here in Berkeley, Oakland, Annie's in Richmond, and Flora Grubb in one day. The Dry Garden Nursery in Oakland often carries smaller one gallon specialty proteas grown from seed by local backyard growers, but the prices are likely to be a bit higher than one gallon sized plants from Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville. Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville has a very good selection of Proteacea plants, all grown right next door at Rosendale Wholesale Nursery, and their acres of display gardens are well worth a browse as well, Another source of Proteas would be the annual spring/fall sales at UC Santa Cruz Botanic Garden, or browse what they have at the book store/nursery near the entry/parking lot. In southern California, there is also Jo O'Connell's nursery that does mail order, and she has a good selection of Australian and South African Proteacea plants. She is located in Ventura, and her website is www.australianplants.com If you would like to get tapped in to the local horticultural scene and get better inside sources for plants, I would suggest joining either the Western Horticultural Society at www.westernhort.org and based in Los Altos, or the California Horticultural Society at www.calhortsociety.org and based in San Francisco. Joining either gets you a subscription to Pacific Horticulture Magazine, as well as monthly meetings, field trips to gardens, local wholesale nurseries, etc. You may find you get bitten badly by the bug/interest in South African plants, I know I have, and love designing gardens with Fynbos plants such as Proteas, Restios and succulents. UC Santa Cruz Botanic Garden and the demonstration gardens at Sierra Azul Nursery in Watsonville are both great local to you examples of what one can do in their own garden.

Hazel, I am following the progress of your protea seeds with great interest. They are fascinating plants. When did you plant them? You sound as though you have been very careful in looking for signs of growth, so I'm sure no harm was done....I have a tendancy to do the same with seeds!! D/D No2 is off to South Africa in Oct to visit boyfriends family, hopefully she can bring some packets of seeds back for me to experiment with. Had email back from DEFRA with info on what is and isn't allowed into UK, so will print it off to take with her... she doesn't know yet! Ha! Did you go to the Gardeners World do at the NEC this year? Almost got tickets ourselves, glad we didnt though with me having the accident, would never have made it. How are your plumies doing? Celadine is so slow in leafing out, but the 4 seedlings are doing well. Keep us posted on the proteas? Regards, Gill.