Excuse me I live in Rockport Texas, we are zone 9 A and Harlingen Texas is Zone 9 B NOT 10 until you get a few hundred miles into Mexico. Plant that foxtail, I did mines growing, cant keep it potted forever, they grow and grow. Live life and love it,Houston sales foxtails in zone 9 A on border of 8 B ..., My Umbrella trees are huge and have survived 30's in past plant your tree on south side of your house and watch it grow. I bought my foxtail at Lowes also. for $59 doing great its big n tall, read facts and myths about palms not surviving cold, And dont believe everything you read on the internet. Plant it , enjoy it, you only live once.

It's very similar looking to the papaya and is more cold tolerant but must still be protected from frost. It's a high altitude plant but did very well in the heat over the summer here. The taste is supposed to be a bit different, milder then a regular papaya, with hints of strawberry and pineapple. The mature fruit is 8-12" long and has a pentagonal shape. The skin is also edible. It turns from green to yellow when ripe. It does produce side shoots which are removed except for 1 that you allow to grow to replace the main stem after a few years. The old stem can then be removed and cut into sections for rooting. I'm actually rooting one now and it seems to be fairly easy to do. My fruit was about 9" when I knocked it off and still very green. I cut it open and the flesh was white. At that point it had almost no taste. Hopefully I'll get to try one this year. I got mine from CA. I think that's about the only place they are widely available. I've seen them on Ebay from one seller and he was getting up to $100 for a cutting!!! I got 2, one from a friend that sent me a cutting and the other a different friend picked up at a nursey for under $20 for a 1 gal plant, both from CA.

AJ, I don't recall having a problem with bolting, but I have had difficulty with planting in early September due to heat. So I usually wait until mid September to start setting plants. We've got a cold front moving down so probably will begin setting plants today. Optimal timing for my area is second half of September. However, I usually have good results from plants set throughout October, sometimes into November. Our winters are generally mild enough to allow the October plants to be harvested in January. I've had poor results with all OP brassicas except for Green Goliath broccoli. So I stick to hybrids.

Thank you, Barb. I thought about putting them outside again until we get another freeze warning. But, I'm not sure if they like being brought in & out. And, they're too big to just bring in every night. We have fairly mild winters...but, it's those few cold spells that ruin things. I've thought about Visqueen before (making a makeshift greenhouse). But, both ends have steps that we use all year round (4ft wide openings in a 8ft wide deck). So, it would be difficult to completely enclose it. I do have some lighting inside, but I'm not sure if it's enough. The lemon started blooming just a few days after I brought it inside. It may have started blooming outdoors. If I ever get another house, my dream is to have a sunroom attached to a uncovered concrete patio, so I can have them on wheels and roll them in & out :) Thanks for your help!