twrosz, I am brand new to roses, but the general consensus is that the 'mystery rose' in my backyard is a 'Rose de Rescht.' This is our second summer in this house, and it sat empty for three years before us. This rose grew under a pine tree for at least those three years without any help at all. This past winter we had record snowfall and brutal cold. All I had to do was tip prune this Spring. This rose IS tough as nails here in 4b/5a, and has wonderful, wonderful bloms and scent. It had only a flimsy rebloom, but it is also very shaded. This fall she gets moved to the sun, and we'll see how that goes!

In the Dirr article you referenced it says “The species (subaequalis) is cold tolerant (more so than P. persica) … it’s hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones (4b) 5-8 ... it survived the Polar Vortex in 2013-14 at Brotzman’s Nursery in Ohio where temperatures dropped between -25°F to -30°F. P. persica was severely injured, but only tip injury was observed on P. subaequalis.” I am a fan of and have a lot of respect for Dirr, but just to provide some context the Brotzman location (eastern Lake County, OH) has pretty reliable lake effect snow cover compared to my area (our soil can freeze deeply). I’m at least a half zone if not a full zone colder than Lake County. It surprises me that the article says persica was severely injured by the polar vortex since the persica’s I have observed in landscapes here survived those years without injury - see Google image below from 2018 of a persica in my area (this tree was planted 2011 or 2012). Based on the native range of the two species I think that persica would likely be hardier than subaequalis, the latter only occurring in 3 provinces of eastern China, west/southwest of Shanghai. Regarding my subaequalis, I received it mail order in the spring of 2018, re-potted it for the first half of the season, then planted it in my yard mid to late summer, so it wasn’t well established going into the fall/winter. In 2018 late Oct thru Nov was colder than normal (23F on Oct 25, and 18F on Nov 14). The coldest we got that winter was -17F on Feb 1, 2019. The seedling had heavy dieback the following spring. My guess is that subaequalis is best adapted to areas where the fall is more moderate and longer lasting. Right now that same seedling is still mulched where I overwinter some other seedlings, and it appears that it will have some tip dieback again this spring. I suppose it's possible that subaequalis may be more resistant to cold once it is well established.

I know this thread's a bit old but I have had some personal experience with Sequoia "Hazel Smith". I live in northern Indiana and I was able to obtain four plants from the Crowfoot Nursery in Oregon last spring (2018). Now this year (June of '19) three of them look pretty good. One died but I don't think it was from the cold. But here is what is really interesting: They were shipped to me before the grafts had completely knitted and I was told to leave the root stock on there for last year's season. Over the winter (we had BRUTAL one), the root stock shoots were completely killed - dead as a doornail. BUT! The Hazel Smith graft was still mostly a healthy looking blue green. So, based on this evidence, I have concluded that "Hazel Smith" is cold hardy and able to withstand zone 5 temps. (I had -22°F at the end of January for two days in a row! That was NOT the "wind chill" mind you but the actual outside ambient temperature. Wind child was in the neighborhood of -40--60° below. So, for you Sequoia freaks living in zone 5, my advice is "to go for it". Regards Fred M. Cain, Topeka, IN

Wow, you do have a tricky one. Unfortunately, it's most likely not going to easy to find a town within commuting distance of the kind of major city you are looking for where you can build such an "unusual" (ultra-green/chemical-free building is b*tch expensive) structure on that budget. Maybe Midwestern cities like St Louis or Kansas City where an hour out of the city you're dodging cows. (Or that was the case when I lived in central MO, although that was - man, I'm getting old - almost 15 years ago.) I can tell you it's pretty much Not Gonna Happen near Boston or NYC. I live an hour outside of Boston and a half-decent building lot by itself is almost your entire budget, forget your site work, bringing utilities in, etc., before even getting the house framed you're well over budget. But one phrase jumps out at me: "young scientists working in academia" - aren't there quite a few big universities that are NOT in major metro areas? Two that come to mind are University of Wisconsin in Madison WI and Purdue University in West Lafayette IN (which is far enough "out there" that cheap land/homes should be feasible). Consider private schools as an option for your children as well - this may open up some more locations where the jobs are available, the land is available, the neighborhoods are to your liking, but the schools aren't quite up to par. I do have to ask, though, have you considered an older existing house with minimal restoration/modernization? Materials 75-100 years old would have done all their offgassing decades ago, and the materials used would have been less likely to offgas in the first place anyway - no plastics, no plywood and particleboard, etc. Then you can do the needed restoration using safe materials. There are lovely houses in the suburbs and exurbs of Midwestern cities that would be WELL within your budget even accounting for some immediate restoration costs. I think you do have one idea that is totally erroneous - most Americans don't have anyone to help them out with down payments either!