If you really enjoy the tulip flowers, you should know that in your area, you can have a beautiful bed of tulips blooming about now in your garden. You can, about September, buy a bag of about 50 tulip bulbs for what you paid for the pot of three blooming tulips. Throw the bag of bulbs into a refrigerator,one not containing fresh fruit, until about the first of December, when they can be planted in your garden. It is not cost effective in your zone to try and save the bulbs after blooming for next year. Only a few will bloom again next year, and a bag of fifty to sixty new bulbs that WILL bloom, will only cost between ten and fifteen dollars. Al

I have no idea where to find the seeds - I would just google for them on the internet, I'm sure they are out there somewhere. Palms take a VERY long time to germinate and grow to a decent size, I hope you're feeling patient. I'm not aware of any commercial supplier in the US that sells plants in hydroculture. I think there might be one or two in Canada.

I've learned that Craigslist's Farm & Garden section is the best way to find deals on plants. I've bought Sylvestri palms for $10, foxtail palms for $3 and sprouted coconuts for $1 each. There are many nurseries still reeling from the housing collapse that have excess inventory. Dozens of nurseries in South Florida post on Craigslist every day.

If you have chamomile tea in your cupboard right now, sprinkle some over some potting mix or seed starter. There's probably seed in it. A few years ago, I was seed sowing inside and decided to mix a bag of chamomile tea into the starting mix instead of watering with the tea(to prevent damping-off). I don't remember how it worked for the DO, but I had chamomile sprouting like crazy in all my pots!