I'm in SWGB zones 15/16 here and I've seen several tried. They never really died back in the winter here (although they survived ungracefully) but it's primary issue is lack of intense heat. They didn't grow much and never bloomed. If you want to give it a try, put it in the sunniest, HOTTEST spot you have in lean soil (= "poor dirt"). I used to live in the Bay Area and never saw one up there (although possibly far east bay valleys). Joe

I very much appreciate all the advice (I can use all the help I can get) but since Pride of Barbados is a hot weather plant I think it was more the extended cool weather of winter that the first set succumbed to rather than being in a pot. They were tiny little weak looking things with barely two sets of real leaves. They struggled to make it, but even with all my carrying them in and out they needed bottom heat to survive. I just tipped the soil out of the 4 inch pot to look at the root system of the robust seedlings I have now (I was surprised at how warm the soil felt) and saw only one little root had reached the bottom. I'm going to wait until there are a few more roots to hold the soil together before transfering to a larger pot. Equincpa, several of the web sites say they can be grown in a pot. I've grown plants of the same family in a pot. Nurseries sell them in a pot. I've dug up Pride of Barbados to pass around and broken off most of the roots and they have survived. You just have to cut back the tops by half or more when you do that. So I think you can manage to grow them in a large pot and carry the pot with the dormant plant roots into a cool place during the zone 7 winter. Here in San Antonio the red and yellow Pride of Barbados dies to the ground in winter and don't start coming up until the ground is well warmed. You could plant it in the ground now and maybe put a little barrier around it like a cut open gallon milk jug to keep something like cut worms from eating it. Maybe there is someone here from zone 7 who grows the red and yellow Pride of Barbados to tell you how they handle them. Happy zone-stretching Barbados gardening! Let us know how yours does and I will do the same.

In Canyon Lake in a cold spot. Mine have just this week poked its heads up. Very slow coming back this year but considering the wet and abnormally cool spring not all that suprising. I would consider planting the new one in another area if you have space and if the old one doesn't come up plant seed from your new one to this area. I find this such a great summer performer that I have few areas given to it heat loving qualities. Just my thoughts. Good Luck and Happy Growing David

No, this was no mimosa. It has yellowish orange blooms similar in look to POB, but was really a huge tree. The trunk itself had a 3-5 foot circumference. If you ever get to Granbury, this tree is west of the square, in a neighborhood near the school bus depot. It has green branches and part of the trunk was a green color also with what appeared to be thorns all over the trunk. I never stopped to ask what it was, but saw one last spring at Stewart's Nursery for $99. I need to make a road trip and get pictures :-) I think it is a palo verde tree. This post was edited by pkponder on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 13:25