I am so excited and happy. I think I have germinated what I believe to be a Tx. Mt. Laurel . Although I am not sure which variety it would be I am leaning toward the Hill Country variety based on the local that it came from.. The mature tree was about 8-10 ft. tall. Extremely dark blue clusters of flowers with an overwhelmingly heavy sweet smell. Red berry like seeds a little darker and harder than dogwood berries, which I have read are toxic. So does this sound like Tx. Mt. Laurel? Is the plant that I have?? Read these posts about three months ago followed the directions you all gave for lightly sanding the edge of my seed. Put it in lightly moist soil with with a good mix of Black Kow compost.Placed it in semi-shade until it started to harden off. Now I have a healthy new plant about 4 inches tall. Tghe new leaves look almost like young mistletoe leaves. Amazingly enough my seeds were gathered between 2005-2006 when I was visiting my son in Belton,Tx. near Salado. I have had them in a dish inside the China Cabinet as souviners since them, but decided to give them a try after reading the experiences here on the Gardenweb. I am now deciding where to put it before winter comes. After reading all the postings on temperature tolerances, I am thinking I need a pot that can be rolled in and outseasonally perhaps. I am in the Carolina Coastal Plain in Zone 8, but not too far from Zone 7. We routinely get temps in the thirties through the winter with it dipping on occassion into the twenties and teens for brief periods.Has anyone else had success wintering them over outside here? I haven't noticed anyone specifically mentioning the strong sweet smell of the blossoms.. We found them way too sweet for indoor cut flowers. I was worried about that as a house plant, but it appears as slow as it grows and matures, will be a while before I have to consider that problem. Any other pointers and tips before deciding to commit myself to outside or inside in this Zone???

I placed an order with Hazzard's 12/31 of 2009 so I can't vouch for the quality of their seeds. I ordered peony poppy, turtlehead & ladybells seeds. I also ordered ornamental grass seeds for a friend. Quite by accident I found out the ornamental grass isn't hardy in her zone. I emailed Hazzard's on Saturday, January 2 with a request to cancel the ornamental grass seeds part of my order. I got a confirmation email from Joyce Hazzard less than 10 minutes later indicating she would take care of it and make sure I was issued a refund. I'd call that excellent customer service. I'm going to WS the seeds and if you want to email me, I'll happily let you know how they do. Eileen

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!

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.