I was offered to buy a seedling for 120 EUR and it's from another EU country. I am thinking what to do as I have no idea if Portugal allows importation of palms from other countries of the EU. When I asked the Portuguese Embassy and the transshipper, they told me to NOT bring any plants or soil into Portugal. Regarding climate 66F or 19C at night only happens mostly during summer months here. I am about 2 km from the coast and it is a very slight slope probably not more than 6%, so I may not be at a very high elevation, probably 100-200 m above sea level. The location is Santa Luzia on the main road almost midway between the cities of São Roque and Madalena. The absolute minimum this past winter was 7.7C one night and 8C one night and a couple dozen nights at 9C including one day at 9C and the rest is 10C and that is early morning and night temperatures (Santa Luzia do Pico). The lower lying cities on the coast may be a bit warmer a degree or two including urban heat index. Day temps here in Santa Luzia are usually 13C to 18C during the cold period of the year, with a very occasional 19-20C closer to spring. I think humidity here is quite high, but when there is no rain for a week or two I would guess the humidity may go down as low as 50%? Some days a few days in a row can be very windy and then rain, but lots of sunny days anyway. I think this is a very good climate for those who do not like heat, does not like their skin to crack in February and who hates frost. Germinating tropical palms here may be a challenge, which I am still to endure and test. So far Washingtonia seeds placed in pots of soil last year gave no germination at all at the temps of 10C to 18C. I am now trying to cover the pots with large plastic cut bottles to create a greenhouse effect for the seeds, so far no germination for Washies either. Seed germination may be a challenge in the Azores!

HMMM, Emma, that pic doesn't look anything like the sydney I've been growing for several years, including this year. that is until the skunk decided to dig out the vine looking for bugs, and I didn't get it back in the ground because of the pouring rain. So the chipmunk came along and went off with the vines before I could get either of them. Anyways, my seeds came from Ronnie a couple of years ago and look like this. and sometimes they are more pink and the flowers are about 2 inches in size. Last year Burpee was selling packets of seeds in the stores that they didn't have on line. They where calling them Blue Star and described as "large 5 inch white flower with true blue striped accents open early in the morning and stay open on cloudy days. great for groundcovers. annual". Hubby picked up the packet for me because I was looking for "the blue star" MG, the one I call "real blue star" and he saw the name was what I wanted. Friend and I decided to keep the packet and sow some to see what we got. There where about 40 seeds in the packet and they all where the light tannish color seed and all where the classic shape of the tricolor seeds of heavenly blue, flying saucer etc. Sent some of the seeds out to some friends across the country to seattle, california, austin texas, Utah, Illinois, and Florida and I sowed 10 seeds myself. 9 of 10 germinated, I kept 2, and gave the rest to friends to grow in their yards and some where 1 zone warmer than me. To keep things safe, we kept the seedlings separate from each other and all but 1 of mine grew a similar flower to Aker's, Everyone that I sent the seeds to grew similar to akers as well. I got to be the lucky one. I got one similar to Aker's MG and the other one was my "real blue star". Now you wonder was it white. No way, was it white. bluish lavendar with a darker lavender star. now ay does it look like the pick on the packet or anywhere near the color and the flower size all over the country was about 3-3 1/2 inches. The seed pods from this one all grew just like the tricolor facing towards the sky and the seeds where the same as the one in the packet that hubby got, tricolor shape seeds No white with blue strips here But the other one I had bloomed like this Alas, I got seeds from it too but none of them germinated in the soggy rain we had. Burpee doesn't have them on their website this year either.

Haven't looked in on this forum for quite a while, I see RexEdwardFairy's question is now months old. More a matter now of "how did you go" I think? The only thing I'd say is don;t get your hopes up regarding colour. The new "pinks" are a result of years of hibridization and extreme patience and the only sure way to replicate the parents is then by cloning (division or propagation by tissue culture). However, of course, the variations were obtained from seed to start with so there is no saying you won't get SOMETHING different. It's just that in my own experience the only ones to come true from seed are the plain old blue or white (or the minis of the same - I had success with some white seed years ago and after multiple divisions now have quite a nice lot of little bulbs)

I have to post a couple more pictures from the incredible Blue Mountains Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah. It was my favorite garden on this trip. Although not having the variety of Rhododendrons that can be found in Olinda, the scenic aspect of it is just mind boggling. I can think of only 2 other gardens I've visited with such an amazing natural setting and attendant sense of place - UC Berkeley, and Villa Taranto on a mountainside next to Lago Maggiore. (In fairness, I should really wrap in Isola Madre and Isola Brissago and just say "the absolutely incredible Gardens of Lago Maggiore". The latter two merely sit in the lake, while Villa Taranto allows you to climb at least a couple hundred feet up and feel like you're in the clouds looking down, as does the UC Berkeley garden. As close to the Horticulturally Edenic as you will find, I think.) Looking at these pics years later, I now spot, for example, that there was a Glyptostrobus (probably!) that I hadn't even noticed. Here were some of their native grass trees, albeit smaller than ones I saw in coastal Victoria: A few more from Australia. Here is the lush undergrowth of the Blue Mountains. The is the biome that the Wollemi pine comes from. Phil explained to me what this plant was. It looks like a South African Erica, but is actually the Aussie version. It's either also in the Ericaeae, or is another plant family that co-evolved to look similar. Sorry, can't remember! Finally a view of the forest-y part of the Sydney Botanical Garden. Looking and feeling every bit like being on a tropical island, but quite a ways from the tropics. Sydney is as far south as Myrtle Beach is north. 33S. Good luck creating anything like this in Myrtle Beach! Practically any plant recognized by northern tourists as a 'tropical' plant grows here, barring coconuts. You have go closer to the Queensland border to find those, they simply can't deal with the frost-free albeit slightly chilly winters of Sydney. On to Christchurch! A quintessential NZ scene at the Christchurch Botanic Garden. NZ Flax, of course! Tree ferns, of course! Weird little conifer - probably one of the shrubby Podocarps, of course! Nearby was the bizarre looking Phyllocladus alpinus, aka 'Celery Pine'. You can grow this in the milder parts of the PNW, definitely not in the eastern US. Typical plantings...a young Telopia, a Callistemon, and Kniphofia northiae. Although clearly not as mild as most of the gardens I saw in AU, it's still pretty damn mild, as is evidenced by the fact they can use Clivias as bedding plants! I suspect Christchurch is probably 10a in the milder parts, 9b if you get away from the coast or 'urban heat island'. IIRC the guy who used to post on GOTE from there put 9b in his profile. I saw, for example, winter blooming South African aloes, but far more infrequently than in AU, and maybe only in sheltered north facing gardens har har har.