I planted a couple of Mexican plum trees. Small trees that produce lots of small sized plums that are delicious. It took, I think, about 2 years to get a decent sized crop on each tree. They don't need to be sprayed with poison, and they don't need pollination. They do great in the Dallas area, with the heat. Pretty small white flowers in the spring. But the trees don't live a long time. I did everything to make the fig trees live. I planted them in various places in my yard (which faces south), up against a building, behind a huge shrub, on one side of the yard and on the other. I carefully watered, dug the holes properly as far as I can tell. Several died separately at different times, then the last 4 or so all died at the same time. I think they may have gotten the one disease that fig trees get....I forget what it is. The leaves shrivel up and turn brown and die suddenly. I don't have much soil, and the soil is awful hard clay that doesn't drain well. I added some amendments when I planted, but you're not supposed to add a lot, or the roots will go into shock when the reach the real soil. They lasted long enough to produce a few figs (a couple of years). It's just too hot, and the soil is too bad, and the winter too cold. This is really not an area conducive to subtropical plants, which is what a fig is. You are lucky. You may have unusual soil in your area. There are a few areas with better soil. I also had a dwarf magnolia tree die, as well as several Foster Stevens shrubs, gardenia, roses (I even used an axe to dig out the rock to create an 8X8 rose bed, to no avail). Bear in mind that I'm no idiot. I've successfully grown many trees, some citrus, vegetables, watermelon. I guess it's my yard.

Keep your eyes open, lots of seed for the taking. The Windmills should have loads of seed on them right now. If you see a big Washingtonia, look underneath it, often tons of seed. If I were you, and want to start yours from seed, stay with the Trachys(Windmill), Washingtonias (Mex or California, both do ok in Dallas), Mediteranian Fan palm and Pindo (also Jelly palm, Butia, Blue Cocos- goes by all these names, even the name Cocos Australius at times). Your Sabal Palmetto and Sabal Minor are good too but take forever from seed. Frankly, if I were you, hit Lowes. You will be able to find all those except for the Sabals and the price is well worth the years it will take for you to have any size. I live 120 miles due East of you, down I-20. Dallas is becoming more "palmy" each year...it amazes me the number of palms growing there, some neighborhoods and the downtown area are just amazing. Anyway, of all the palms I mention, only the Washingtonias are very subject to frying in the winter. Usually they look nasty right after winter but they grow back their leaves rather quick once it warms up...making them worthwhile. BTW...your seedling Washintonias (your skyduster and Cal. hybrid) will probably NOT survive for the first few years if you put them in the ground. Out of hundreds of seedlings I planted one year, perhaps 7 or 8 made it thru the first winter. Keep them in a pot(protected in winter) for a few years then set them out. Or, like I said, hit Lowes or wherever, they are cheap. Don't let me discourage you! Growing palms from seed is fun...but get a few bigger ones to keep your interest going till your babies get bigger. I have hundreds of palms on my farm...near all I have started from seed.

No problem CD! I actually work for TVI, but at a different campus than the Main, so I am not at that Main Campus all too often. However, I was there yesterday for a meeting, and when I walked out of the building into the courtyard area, I was pleasantly surprised to see such liberal utilization of palms for a small piece of landscaping! To find the building, here are some admittedly very rough, rough general directions. If you are heading east on Coal, youd have the Jeannette Stromberg building on your right south side. JS has an elevated walkway that takes folks from the JS building, over coal, to the other side of Coal the north side of Coal where there are several other TVI buildings. Such buildings over there are the A building, the M building, the N building, etc. The building you want is the N Building (North Building), and the eight mid-sized palms are planted in a long row on a long outside wall of the N Building. It is a wall that is somewhat to a corner on one side of it a connecting corner between the N and the M Buildings. You find that N Building, and it will be very easy to find. I think youve got the right plan with leaving your palms outdoors now. Great to hear they are doing well! As for how mine are doing, I have got a total of four who are approximately 2 or 3 years old, have been in the ground at my house for a little over a year each a very small T. Fortunei (north-west facing exposure, no wall protection in front yard), one mid-sized T. Fortunei (north-west facing exposure, no wall protection in front yard), another mid-sized T. Fortunei (west-facing exposure, wood fence on east side for some protection in back yard) and one mid-sized Washingtonia Robusta (west-facing exposure, wood fence on east side for some protection in back yard). They are all doing great! The one doing the best (somewhat surprising to me) for early spring is one of my mid-sized T.Fortuneis (the one with north-west exposure and no wall), which already has sprouted two new large, mature bright green fronds, with 2 more coming up and is getting taller. Really, the next-best right now is (again, possibly even more surprising this early in the year) is my Washington Robusta, whose trunk is slowly thickening, getting taller, and has shot up already a large, mature bright green frond Robustas, while far quicker to burn off fronds in late autumn and much more sensitive to cold - once they get growing in the spring, they sure are quick growers! The two lagging a bit behind are the other two T. Fortuneis. One, still be very, very small, I believe it doing well, but I think due to its small size, will take it later into March, early April, before it really starts hammering out new fronds. The other T. Fortunei (my mid-sized one that is more protected) is growing new fronds, but much more slowly. I almost thing it has too many dead fronds on it, (it really produced tons last year because it grew so well) and that is slowing the reproduction of the new ones now. I think I will thus cut off a number of the dead ones soon, however, I have read that keeping the dead ones on until the last freeze is a good idea for additional protection for the new production. Sorry for the bookas you can tell, I am rather a geek for these trees, especially at this time of year! But all four trees are growing and doing quite well, and I have three more Washingtonia Filiferas to plant (that you kindly directed me to) once we get to the end of March that are still in their pots. Sorry for the length of thisI tend to ramble on with talk of my palms, and it is really exciting at this time of the year when you see a tree like a Mexican Fan shooting up new green fronds. I also have a mid-sized large peach tree that got into full blossom/bloom, and I think I successfully protected it through the unusually cold weekend to where most of the blooms didnt freeze offlooking for many peaches in summer! Let me know how you liked the TVI palms!

corkball1, There are probably some Black Gums around Dallas, but only one I recall seeing was at the arboretum. Suspect it would have to be pampered some to do well in the alkaline leaning soils common here. Am going to have to go back and check out the arboretum tree this fall to see if it turns that wonderful red ... believe it's the champion tree for the DFW area. davidrt28, I actually believe Mexican Sugar Maple would probably grow pretty well in the soil here thanks to its alkaline tolerance. It's just that local reliability in zone 8a clay, form, and even actual parentage of SFAU's openly pollinated seedlings are still largely uncertain this early in the domestication process. Someone interested in this tree can read the fairly recent status provided on page 197 (PDF page 18) of this SNA conference Plant Breeding and Evaluation paper to decide if its attributes make it worth chasing one down at this stage. One of a few I would be willing to gamble with if we still had the space of a two acre suburban lot. With the work in progress and five more native distributions to consider, seems very likely that reliable selections/hybrids of good color and form will eventually be available through Dallas area nurseries.