I'm interested, what are u wanting in trade? TIA, trudyjean82

"plenty of rostrata. If you can pick up in Tampa I can load you up".... does this mean someone in Tampa wants to give away some lobster claw???..... I am in Tampa! I would love to have a lobster claw! ... crossing fingers I have not miss read.

I know lac1361 very well. Great guy, great grower. He has had great success with the portable greenhouse. I use one too, but not for rostrata. My own personal rule of thumb is, if it will flower reliably in a container and isn't "really" hardy in my area, I keep it in a container. But that's just my personal preference. If you are planning on protecting it to that extent, then by all means, you will probably have success as well. I planted some out as an experiment 3-4 years ago. They have gone to the ground every winter but always come back up. This last winter, we only had a SINGLE night that brought them down! But that one night was 23F. If not for that one night, I'd probably be looking at a few blooms right now, LOL. I know Steve got a bloom on his Pedro Ortiz this summer.

Sounds like you live on top of a coral extrusion. I have a friend in Plantation/Ft Lauderdale who does andhave heard of many So Floridians who do. He has had to take jackhammers and heavy metal pickaxes, and dig out patches of coral in order to plant anything. He only does a small area at a time, but a lot of So FL has only a thin layer of topsoil over a massive coral bed. You just have to tough it out and literally go through it. Its backbreaking work. Or, you can have someone with heavy machinery come in and do it for you, you know, do your whole yard, and then you can fill with topsoil. You can't plant your COllinsiana in only 7-8 inches of soil. It needs a lot more room to send down roots.