Your success is impressive to get one to survive this long from seed. They do sell mature ones in nursery pots here so it could grow in a pot for a while but I've never seen them as a container plant. They are slow growing and take about 10 years from seed to first bloom although I have one very tiny one here which bloomed this past spring.

You didn't say which part of Maryland you are in but the Texas Mountain Laurel should survive outside in the southern and coastal areas and probably not in the northern or western mountains. We get pretty cold here in the Texas Hill Country and have occasional snow. Our cold weather doesn't last as long as yours though. The question is whether it will bloom since your last freeze is usually much later than ours. They are drought tolerant and don't like to be wet so find a well drained and protected spot. They prefer alkaline soil but I have seen them growing in areas with more acidic soil.

Hey if you like I can send you a seddling from the Texas Mountain Laurel and more seeds, the way you can sprout them easily is by nicking the seeds oposite the embrio? then soak overnite in hot tap water next day plant and give it time or you can place in a moist paper towel put inside a ziploc baggie and watch it sprout once the root starts then you can transfer to soil. Let me know or just send me your addy privately and I will send you the seeds. Marcie

I have seen them container grown over 6 foot tall and blooming at nurseries.

Thanks everyone for the laurel information. I have so much fun collecting seeds and cuttings when on vacation and then attempting to get them to grow. It's so rewarding when they do, but frustrating overwintering them in our cold climate (we need a much bigger house at this point). I was thrilled to find live oak seeds on the Alamo grounds, put them in a Baggie and set them aside for awhile. When I got around to checking how to plant them, I found out that a certain worm supposedly affected a lot of the seeds, and sure enough, when I checked my seeds they all had the worms in them. I actually had hope for getting one of them to grow here. Oh, we'll, it's fun anyway. Thank you so much, Marcie, for your seedling and seed offer. At this point I think I'll just wait to see what happens with this plant and not worry about finding a place for another plant this winter. I may take you up on some seeds if this one doesn't make it. They are so pretty when bloomimg.

They will probably survive your cold. I saw quite a few growing and in bloom in a median in Chicago.
If you can get seed pods while they are still soft, but fully developed, they sprout very easily. It does take 8 to 10 years to bloom. Mine was planted in 1996 and bloomed in about 2004.

I've seen sources give cold hardiness for it as far as zone 7, but not colder.