The idea that the whole park is a dank frost pocket into which plants which would thrive just about anywhere else in town are stuck and fail because the site is atypical is patently false. Much of the Seattle arboretum consists of two major sections, an upper area with deep, sandy soil and warm aspects (when native trees are cleared) and lower portion with poorer air and soil drainage. And with 200 acres involved, there is a variety of specific situations within this general pattern. At least a few quite astute plantspersons have been involved with building up the collections there in the past. The original taxonomic layout was abandoned in favor of placing particular plants where they would seem most likely to live a pretty long time ago. Being large and partly wooded (now) the site provides superior growing opportunities for plants liking woodland conditions that are rarely possible to duplicate elsewhere in town--at least on the same scale. The arboretum has the best large-growing, precocious blooming (flowering before the leaves) Asiatic magnolias for instance, even the English Botanical Garden in the mild Ballard neighborhood is mostly too small and exposed to grow and display these nearly as effectively (if they tried one up at the top, inside that amphitheature of trees that might work out).

I do know that the are very slow to grow and thats why the are so so so so so expensive but they are also super tempermental plants if it is still alive be very happy i have already had 3 die but they had been larger plants so i guess that if any one has got some seeds or flowering plants in sydney that want to offload some msg me

I've never tried moving waratahs but did try a small grevillea once. It had only been planted for a couple of months but had to be moved because of unexpected earthworks. The plant didn't survive. Apparently many natives don't like their roots disturbed at all. If you had to move it try and take as much soil with it as you can. I'm not sure about pruning it back first though. When I learnt about horticulture years ago, we were told to prune back the plant but a few years ago I read somewhere that the latest research shows that plants draw food reserves from the leaves to replace any roots that were lost, so pruning the plant is depriving it of food. I don't know if this has since been found true or not. Someone else may know. Also some natives can resent pruning. If you want to prune, maybe just a light trimming? Keep it watered but don't overdo it as they don't like sitting in water. If the weather is hot, maybe shade it with temporary shadecloth shelter. If you move it let us know how the plant goes.

There is a white and a yellow, naturally occurring, variety of the Tasmanian waratah. Please read the link. I grow the red one down here in Tas. The Tas. waratah is not a whole lot like Alloxylon flammeum except maybe in flower form... but only a little. Tallest I have seen growing was in Cradle Mountain near where I live outside one of the chalets and was probably about 5m tall and about as wide. I have some seedlings growing now from this bush... very slow (or maybe just erratic) to germinate... If you get some seed sow them in autumn but leave the pot undisturbed for over a year. I planted mine last autumn and am still getting germinations now a year later. Here is a link that might be useful: Telopea truncata