Hello stanofh, Sorry for late reply...never got notice from email about follow up question. In past three years, coldest I can recall is maybe upper 30s/low 40s at nights during winter (but those are extreme cold spells that last for just few days...normally winter nights are upper 40's/low 50s). Strange thing is last year there was only one harvest of the hanging papayas in summer of around 12 fruits...it was surprise just to see fruit after nothing for 3 years. This year we were able to harvest around 20 fruits in spring and I thought that was it...butt now in fall there is another batch of 25+ fruits. Tree top is now probably reaching 12 foot tall, compared to last year when it was probably 7 or 8 foot tall. We don't use fertilizer or any plant food...the only difference in last year versus previous three years is actually less watering. Mother in law owns farm in thailand...she said to only water tree 2 or 3 times a week.

It's hard for me to tell from that distance. Can you take a closer photo of the leaf shape? You may be able to ID it yourself by googling images of "Norway maple vs. Sugar maple" or similar. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/images/acpl-sa2.jpg http://homepage2.nifty.com/chigyoraku/worldleaf1.jpeg

Happy to go with P.gracilor (Syn. Afrocarpus), and that interesting article explains how a relatively obscure African tree arrived in the USA. But I did note this line... "...it has recently been reclassified into the new genus Afrocarpus on the basis of its fruiting structure, with some botanists considering it a variety of Afrocarpus falcatus and others retaining its separate species designation."

"frankly.. being splayed.. they look like snow or ice damage as up here in MI" at Virginia Beach, most definitely not. Although central NC has had some surprisingly heavy snow events that devastate road traffic and leave people on the interstate stuck in their cars for days, that sort of thing is INCREDIBLY rare at VA Beach. These are just very old (I remember them from when I was a kid) and probably allowed to assume that shape to be picturesque. They look like that all the way down the east coast! https://sjtreefarm.com/trees/juniper-torulosa/ Jacksonville ATR (all time record) snowfall is only 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) Unless the snow fell in the form of powered lead, it wouldn't splay the branches of anything very much!