I think the worst part of the heat in the midwest is the humidity that arrives with it...not exactly just the heat....it stifles the breath right out of you when it reaches 90's. I spent two weeks in Vegas last year and the temps with 105 or more each day. That heat felt much more comfortable the the heat at home in the 90's. As long as we drank..we felt fine. My sister in law who lives in Vegas came to visit Indiana in July last year..when she left Vegas it was 103...she thought hot...but when she got here..it was 92..cooler she thought as she got her stuff ready to deboard the plane. By the time we made our way across the parking lot to the car, she was winded...and said she would take vegas 103 heat ANY day compared to this. A week later she couldn't wait to get back home to her hot dry heat where at least her chest didn't feel like someone was standing on it all day... We also have to remember that the plants in each zone are acclimated for that particular heat and so are the heat and water needs...when it reaches 90's and humid in the midwest..nothing can breathe...not plants, or people. Mid 90's is the top of its range... So it takes extra care to assure things survive..Every zone of the country has diff heat and cold highs and lows..and life, both people and plants are used to that level...and has certain needs at that level. That is why certain things grow in one place and not another.. The plants that we struggle in the midwest to keep alive in the 90's do not even survive in texas or florida heat.... the plants that need the heat from Texas or Florida can not survive here with our cool nights in the fall and spring, or our winters,....its all what is the regions normal and what kind of things we are dealing with. It is really all about what is hot in your region...and what plants and people are use to there. Not about "how" hot it is.... Just my thoughts.

I'm sad to hear this offer is over. I responded on the 9th because I didn't see Indiana listed as receiving one, and I even wrote a thank you note to Larry in a thank you card, but I think my message was over-looked, but that's okay. I have plenty of iris. I hope Larry has an iris somewhere in Indiana. Thanks anyways for sharing his iris the way you did/have. J_and_C

looks like nice parkland! are those fruit trees or just ornamental? by the way, some growers from thailand ship internationally - it all depends on agro import rules where you are and how fast the plants can ship so as not to die! may be better selection/shipping from australia? rainy Hilo on big island in hawaii /carribbean/thai/philippines/aussi tropics - would be similar to your area somewhat. there are subsets of garden web for australia/europe/etc i'll poke around to find some links for seed/fruit shippers in asia. i like learning and reading about tropical anything :). by the way you should have some incredible alocasia/colocasias (elephant ears) locally - are you familiar at all with them? colocasias are edible. prime example is taro - traditional hawaiian crop. not that i like it myself. but there are various kinds of very tasty tropical sweet potatoes that you might grow instead: yams, batatas, boniatos (cuban white sweet potato). also you should be able to grow monstera deliciosa - it produces an edible large fruit (cousin of swiss cheese houseplant). peas like it cool, but some beans can def take hot/humid like lima beans and some you can eat fresh from the pod. and all are available as seeds. e.g. from australia but shipping only locally - see tropical beans at the end. http://www.greenharvest.com.au/SeedOrganic/VegetableSeeds/Beans.html it's worth looking into indian stuff (which i know very little about, except i can see it in the freezer in the supermarket!). they grow all sorts of beans/long squashes in the steamy south. oh, you might be able to get some seeds/info/sites thru UK on that! found what i think is a good place in philippines (at list to start looking, not sure about international shipping) - info on fruit trees.ships nursery trees. http://www.dizonexoticfruittrees.com/index2.htm it was referenced last year - Q on shipping/visting with recommendation on http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3111.0 seems to be a very active and useful forum too! here some useful links info/growing hawaii/fl/china http://www.lycheesonline.com/links.cfm this is Caribbean puerto rican site(us territory): they ship internationally. even just getting familiar with names can take time:) http://www.montosogardens.com/tropical_fruit_trees.htm

Everything kinda eariler each year here too in the PNW. It's been colder this early spring than in some years. But overall the winter is warmer and the plants know it. A global warming like cycle effect. Don't get me wrong, I really kinda like us becoming z9 instead of z8, but the models say our forest trees might burn like happened in CA, clear up to N CA and parts of southern OR. Global warming? Our current President is going to learn more about the effects of this in his new "business" than he ever would have imagined. In fact, he might even have to believe it as he deals with increasing intermittent drought times in Africa as well as CA. San Diego is already currently putting in a large municiple desalination plant! Faster change within a lifetime, rather than over many generations is tough. Human life energy and $ investments get taxed due to faster rates of change and on wrong choices. When it happens slowly civilization can just move correctly in the change direction. Adaptation becomes easier. Less famine, disease cycles that way. (Can you imagine what it'd be like if the US had another "dust bowl" event or Africa's Sahara Desert suddenly positioned towards doubling in size? We were just in dry desert like Baja CA, Mexico for a week. They must pump water like crazy where they live to make the habitat more hospitable. The rest of coastal CA is in trouble if they shift to that climate. Baja can't expand much more on current water supply needs. They would need to add desalination plants and pay that energy cost and environmental effects. There we a lot of Whales there this Feb. It's a natural calfing time due to less food (= less predators) and higher salinity, which floats baby whales better. Higher salinity is caused by higher evaporation rates than up north. If that water goes up into the sky it must later come down, often as storms. Thus, if we extend the salinity effect as far as N CA then we have current 1x storm potential go to eg 3x. More frequent, powerful, extended range storms. The mosquito disease range also moves north with the warmth effects. This would be a great time for your grandkids' future to buy land one growth zone north of you. Now we as gardeners can help. Grow large leafy plants like HYDRANGES and better yet TREES, and BAMBOO that eat CO2. Build wooden structures with them to tie up carbon. This is a good banking system. If we get a mini ice age due to asteroid hit, then we recycle/burn things to make heat, grow mushroone such as oyster mushroom and shiitake, and restore global warming effects this time for benefit. Dark ash can be added to darken snow for heat capture and soil building to make CO2 hungry plants. Anti-global warming front yard (by chance not informed design, our last house). Who needs grass to cut? Labor could go into harvesting wood and handcrafting things to stock pile CO2. Our new yard is sunny, but we are transforming it. Before Six months later Our divisions from the last house and some acquistions give us 80 kinds of hydrangea installed into the new design and 7 types of timber bamboo. We have little land and so just 5 smaller trees we added, including 3 Japanese Maple, a Persimmon and Witch Hazel. Internet photos or sone of our bamboo types. Click photos to expand any condensed images. Phyllostachys nigra "Black Bamboo" Phyllostachys nigra 'Bory "Tiger Bamboo" Phyllostachys nigra 'Henonis "Henon or Blue Bamboo" (thought to be the larger parent type bamboo from which the other nigra varieties mutated from. It starts as a nice tall green bamboo and develops a blue surface powdery film with age.) Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' "Golden Vivax Bamboo" Phyllostachys vivax 'Huanwenzhu Inversa' "Kimmel Golden Vivax Bamboo" Phyllostachys atrovaginata "Incense Bamboo" also has edible shoots. Bamboo stands give privacy barriers, add backdrops for our hydrangea and other plants, and are evergreens which helps the yard look great in winter. We like the decorative spent canes for craft and yard uses. These also make edible shoots if tbey excape my root barrier investment. And they can be used to defend against wild dogs and humanZ in time of famine or Zombie attack ... then there's torture potentials too. I'd grow the Incense Bamboo for the fragrant waxy surfaced canes alone or scary looking shoots. These interesting looking shoots are equally useful to detour unknown neighborhood kids from jumping over the fence, thus not incensing me again.