Tom, would love to go again this year, but we have class M-F. I have to miss 1 class the previous week, same class day as this. Please take good notes, and forward, please. Or if they have a recording link, try to get it. I really would like to be there.

Hi chitown033, It's hard to find stations with datasets. O'Hare looked close to the lake so I thought it's climate would be influenced more into moderation than further inland station with datasets. Still even if Chicago has quite a heat island I bet it did not count for much back in those terrible winters of 1977 to 1989. Here in OKC the downtown heat island did not count for much in that winter of 1983 and I'm in the sunbelt. I hope we never see weather like that decade of the 1980's ever again. You can stay zone 6, I can be more zone 7b-ish and Dallas can keep their zone 8b-ish winters. Hi spockvr6, I agree don't worry about zone nonsense too much. There are so many variables from the plants to the climate it's hard to make a system of hardiness prediction that covers all the earth with the same rules. I guess plant it and see what happen is the only system that counts for solid facts. That is within reason of what would be sane to try. Hi Steve, All that Home Depot unhardy stock is cool to dream about and even I sometimes start to go delusional thinking I'll buy a butia or date palm to try. When I pull money out of my billfold to pay for junk my head clears and I place the plant back where I found it. Going down to Houston it's hard to keep control of my buying. Man there is nothing better looking than a nice container butia but I must only look and not buy. Cheap trachys are even harder to turn down but I always remember all 20 or so I have killed over the years. The one palm I would buy on a Houston trip is Sabal palmetto but you don't find them anymore. Mexicana is all that's stocked now and Mexicana is the sorriest Sabal for hardiness I have ever tried. Hi Don, I would not bother with trachys unless you willing to wrap the trunk with a plumbers heat tape and fiberglass. Trachys are indeed hardy but not for long durations in the single digits. They are great wrapped and grow like craze even in cool summers with cool soil. You have the hot sunmmer air temps but your deep soil might be cool most of the summer. Trachys like that and thrive. It's just a matter of getting the trunk overwintered and that's easy with a 32* plumbers heat tape and open face fiberglass. Needle Palm in a microclimate is indeed the best bet for a unprotected longterm in ground palm. They really are below zero hardy because I have seen it in person back in the terrible 1980's. Go with Needle and perhaps try a inland ecotype of Sabal minor. The Sabal need's deep soil heat or it will not grow so plan to plant within 1 foot of a hot south wall. When planting close to a wall consider that Sabals are a directional grower in that underground trunk. The trunk growth will always be in a direction away from where the first seedling roots happen. Dig down in your container and find the sharp point where the plants seedling trunk had started and place it toward the wall. It's hard to explain without a pic. I'll try to find a pic of a Sabal minor root/trunk system and draw what to do in planting close to a wall. For the tropical look yuccas are great and some large tree size species might survive even a bad winter in your area. Don't forget bananas are great for giving a tropical look and can easily be overwintered in a garage. Being a nasty day here in OKC with winter weather I could not work so I took some pictures for the board. Most of my plants look trashy after the early December frigid spell. I have found bitter cold in early December will damage marginal plants much worse than the same weather in late January. Two nights of lower single digits so early damaged most all the Sabal minor 'Louisiana'. Regular Sabal minor of all ecotypes were undamaged. Sabal 'Birmingham' were undamaged. Sabal uresana which has been a real surprise in cold hardiness was undamaged. Sabal palmetto varies with some being much hardier than others. Serenoa really got slammed with only a few live leaves left. Here are some pictures of crappy looking zone 7 palms. I have around 200 crappy palms so this is far from the whole collection. If you would like to see a short video showing my row of varoius Sabal species please click the link below. Row Of Sabals Video Click Here

Been spending more time in the garden. With the cooler temps many of the tomatoes are setting now. Some won't make it before frost I'm sure. Have lost a few to diseases in the last month. Only sprayed the caged plants once. Probably should again. The varieties that Gary sent me that the Tomato Man grew that survived the hail have overall outperformed my other op's. Grandma Suzy's has set better than anything. I would say 40 plus fruits on it now. It isn't a tall plant but has spread out wide. Heavy bloomer all summer and really setting fruit now. None are turning yet but the biggest fruits are in the 7-8 ounce range. Nice beefsteak shape. Hopefully 10 or more will make it before frost. Randy's Brandy is another that has set very heavy. Both of these were from seeds Gary sent me. Hopefully will get to taste Grandma Suzy's soon. Tasted my first Randy's Brandy last week. As good as any Brandywine type I've grown. and has by far the heaviest fruit set of any Brandywine type I have grew. And I've tried several. And to do this in such a terrible year has been impressive to me. Smaller than many(3-4 ounce range). Will be saving seeds from both. Heinz 2653 had lots of blooms all summer but just average set. A roma type with good flavor. Will give it another try. JD's Special C-Tex has set fair. And taste has been good to very good depending on source of seeds. None of the plants have set heavy but at least some on all. Carbon, Golden Cherokee, JD's Special Pink Heart,Dana's Dusky Rose, Marglobe have all set some but none very heavy. Hopefully will get to taste and save seeds from all of them. Many of my favorites failed for one reason or another. Several of the op's I grew for the first time won't get a return try. Among them will be Amy's Sugar Gem, Strawberry Margarita and Brown Derby. Jet Star has been the most consistent of the hybrids. Beefy Boy has a very heavy set now and better flavor. Talladega and Sanibel are determinate types that have set well and starting to produce well. Flavor on them is just average. Jetsonic has set above average and has good size. A good slicer but not one I would eat in the garden. Mountain Magic has been a disappointment. Purple Haze F1 has set fair and a vigorous plant but not the great flavor I was expecting. 7.5-8.0 on a 0-10 scale. Sungold has done well again. Sweet Treats has been the best producer but not as good of taste. Both will be back on production alone. Ramapo hasn't produced one ripe fruit here in 3 tries. It won't be back. Has a few small fruit now that will probably never make it. Among the hybrids that won't get another chance are Beefmaster, Better Boy, Mountain Magic and Ramapo. Of the container varieties I plan on moving to the lean to greenhouse there are a few starting to perform well. Guildo Pietroboni is the best setting heart type I've ever grown. Has the limp, fern like appearance but not as bad as many of the heart types. Hopefully it will adjust well to life in the greenhouse. Ambrosia Red is a cherry type that is setting well and another I'll move and for sure try again next year. Have fruit set on a few others. Plan on moving 3-4 tomato plants and one container with peppers to the lean to. I will have another update in 2-3 weeks. Also will try to add some more pictures including pictures of the lean to. I have it finished and trying to figure out how to control temps somewhat before I move plants in it. Feel free to ask for seeds of anything I have. Not a fair year to judge a variety by. So have been impressed with a few that at least survived the summer and that set average or better. Jay

Hey Mango Kush, thanks for posting those great pics and the link. Those pics make my mouth water. The wai chi does look very similar to the Kaimana, I wonder how they compare in taste. I know that a lot of the lychee farmers in China plant mainly air layered trees but they also tend to plant a few trees from seed if they have a large plot of land. The Chinese government took over many of the local peoples lychee plots and only allowed each family to keep several trees. I would love to go back to China during Lychee season and taste and collect air layers from the Lychee trees scattered around the different regions. Some people are lucky enough to do this, and luckily they brought samples back decades ago, allowing us to be in the hobby now. I can't wait to see and taste the next new Lychee variety wether it is brought from overseas or a USDA selection. ***insanely insidious smirk, drool gliding down the side of my face***