Sorry, not a prayer. Description in Sunset Western Garden Book implies it's not completely happy even in southern California.

My great grandmother had one shading part of her yard.

In Honolulu.

Hi,
bboy is right. It's not going to make it. A couple of years ago I was able to germinate a few seedlings from seeds of the fruits I bought from China town. I was so excited. They grew for about 6 inches or so outside during summer and then died. Just like that. So that's my experience. Perhaps you could do in a temperature/humidity controlled greenhouse?

While I respect your opinions I disagree wholeheartedly.

I've seen people in PA grow lychees and they do bear fruit. As long as you create the right conditions they will thrive beautifully.

Maybe you should ask the folks in PA....?

I've attached a link for you to review......seems pretty darn thorough to me and Purdue is generally recognized as providing accurate horticultural info. This is a semitropical plant and requires a semitropical climate. I'd direct you specifically to the part that states: There are only a few scattered trees in the West Indies and Central America apart from some groves in Cuba, Honduras and Guatemala. In California, the lychee will grow and fruit only in protected locations and the climate is generally too dry for it. There are a few very old trees and one small commercial grove. emphasis mine

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing lychees

Frost + Litchi = death.

@ gardengal48, thanks for the info.

@ bboy, your assumption is brilliant.

There are home growers with fruting trees in coastal influenced parts of San Diego and Los Angeles, and I know of a grower in the central valley town of Modesto who has gotten Lychee to fruit and grow, even with the occasional frost and assumed too cold winters. Given a long warm growing season with plenty of heat and enough water to keep humidity up and protect from drying winds, it is possible to grow lychee in areas where it wouldn't seem possible. I don't know of anyone who is successfully growing a fruiting lychee tree in coastal northern California, the lack of heat units in summer probably is a more limiting factor than our less than ideal winters with wet rather than dry c limate as they would prefer and get in habitat.

So, I'd suggest that lychee in the PNW is on par with growing a mango tree and getting it to set fruit. If you want to eat your own lychees, you'll likely need a heated greenhouse and be prepared to do a lot of babying. Or move to Modesto and plant in a tract home in your east facing side yard. The long summer heat with daily temps above 90F and relatively early spring warm-up, and relative frost protection provided by 4 foot side yard setbacks and deep alluvial loamy soils seems to allow the impossible fruiting of lychee in northern California. These sorts of summer temps and humidity provided by extensive irrigated crop lands surrounding Modesto would seem a close approximation of coastal southern China summers. I know the owner of this tree has said he does try to protect it from freeze damage when it is expected to drop below 28F, but it only suffers modest leaf drop at temps above this level for just a night or two, with no attempts at frost protection.

Personally, while I love fresh lychee when traveling in SE Asia, I think the efforts to get it to fruit for me in the SF Bay Area outweigh the rewards, and it would be an awfully expensive exercise for a limited amount of fruit.

I think we were a bit set up here because yaslan did not mention the PA growers in the initial post. Were the "right conditions" in PA indoors or outdoors?

A bit of searching reveals that Tropical Fruit forums' north_tree_man in Pennsylvania takes his trees indoors by October and carefully monitors chill and heat hours.
He is not a casual fruit grower!

Search that forum for "lychee" for more info on success with lychees.

If you are very very determined, I am going to say that it might be possible. You will need to grow the seedling indoors in a warm place under grow lights for the first 8 years, to give it any chance of survival. Then plant in Spring against a South-facing wall that will get plenty of sun. (I would even consider aiming a high wattage garden spotlight at it timed to turn on at night)

In Winter every year you will will want to cover it with a plastic sheet and a thick insulating layer of mulch. Some tropical fruit growers wrap their tree in Christmas lights for added warmth. The tree might lose its leaves every winter (which is not good for the tree and will stunt its growth) but they will grow back. For this reason you might want to get a variety that has more proclivity for fruit, like Mauritius, because Lychee trees can be reluctant to produce if the conditions are not right. Another thing you need to consider is that in a colder climate the Lychee fruit may not ripen all the way, and may not be so sweet. Perhaps you could use reflective sheeting to try to increase the amount of light directed at the tree.

The good thing is the coastal Pacific Northwest really only has about 2 weeks of actual chill below freezing, so if you can manage to get your trees to survive through that you may be okay.

In all fairness, the reason lychee can have trouble growing in Southern California is the lack of humidity, the leaves can get a little baked in the hot sun and dry air.

Lychee can be grown here in the PNW. A few years back, Portland Nursery actually carried all sorts of tropical fruit trees but not anymore. The key is having a heated greenhouse. I keep them outside from late May to the end of Halloween, then they go into my greenhouse until May of next year. I keep them in my greenhouse above 45F and they will be fine. The tropical fruits I have successfully fruit here in Portland zone 8 are tropical guavas, lychees, longans, and jaboticaba. The summer of 2016 has been very cool compare to 2015 so my lychee this year flower late but no fruit. The guavas and longans have fruited late this year due to the cool summer but they should be ripe by Nov-Dec once they are back in the greenhouse. You should not be growing anything from seedling if your goal is to get fruit. Seedling is fine for experimental purposes. Tropical fruit trees does not do well indoor here in the PNW because humidity is an issue so it is very challenging. Citrus and Pawpaw on the other hand can be very easy to grow. See pic below taken today.

Mentioning a geographic location implies outdoor cultivation. Otherwise, with a heated greenhouse you can theoretically grow just about anything that grows outdoors in the tropics - what region the greenhouse is located in is more or less secondary.

Thank you all for sharing.