I'd imagine Katsura Gardens, in northern Plymouth, has them. I didn't look for these on a recent trip there, but they have a spectacular plant list. Their on-line list is a bit out of date, as I found out by complaining to the owner that he didn't carry Heptacodium. Another option is Sylvan Nursery, in Westport. That's a huge place that carries just about everything. The local garden centers are still getting their stock in, though, and I'll bet you can find mountain laurel at your favorite local place; if not today, then within a couple of weeks. I'd ask the managers of the places in your neighborhood. Here is a link that might be useful: Katsura Gardens

Hi there, I have a couple of seedlings for the Texas mountain Laurel-purple blooms. I heard that there is a WHITE Texas M.L. also anybody?

I have a couple of large Texas mountain laurels so I pull up seedlings like weeds all the time. I'll look around and see if I can find some of a little larger size that I missed. Other people have also reported Texas mountain laurel growing very slowly, but they grow pretty fast in my native 'soil' which is mostly heavy hard black clay over lime stone and caliche. The ones I have were wild dug and evidently like a very limy soil. I'm wondering if perhaps not all Texas mountain laurels are adapted to all regions. Anyway, a seedling I planted next door in unimproved 'soil' 10 or 12 years ago is now way taller than the roof. It grew taller and more gangly than most of them do -- probably because it didn't get a lot of sun there. I took this picture several weeks back. It's covered with blooms right now. The bright red seeds are very hard. When we were kids we used to scrap them back and fourth real fast on the sidewalk till they were hot and chase each other around trying to touch somebody's skin before they cooled off. LOL! The seeds will sprout faster if you file them or nick them, or crack them gently with a hammer before planting so moisture can penetrate and start the growing process. I heard Manual Flores say to put them in a cup and pour boiling water over them to soften the seed covering. Seems that would kill the germ of the seed, but that what he said. They are a beautiful, very worthy evergreen tree with rough dark colored bark that make a nice contrast with the thick shiny leaves. Here is a close-up of a bloom in case you didn't see it on the gallery recently: As for clematis if you are speaking of the large flowered varieties I haven't seen any growing in San Antonio yards. There are Texas native clematis that do well here and a hybrid, Duchess of Albany, that was developed by crossing a large flowered variety with the Texas native. I grew it for several years until it didn't come back one year. The Duchess was nice, but wasn't particularly showy. The native ones I have aren't very showy either, but I love the little pitcher shaped purple blooms. There is a native red pitcher shaped one also. Sweet Autumn clematis, which produces a profusion of small white flowers in the fall does well here. Several years ago there were some of the large flowered clematis planted at the S.A. Botanical Center, but they didn't look very happy so I decided not to try them. Hopefully someone that has had success with the large flowered varieties in this part of Texas will let us know. Here is a link that might be useful: Duchess of Albany Clematis

These are so slow growing, it's often better to have a local nursery order the largest blooming size you can afford. They may hesitate if you're lower than hardiness zone 8, but worth checking with them. You might be able to order direct from Monrovia for delivery to a local nursery, but my experience has found it more dependable to have a willing manager at a local store they supply order it for you. If time is not an issue, seedlings are occasionally offered on ebay or Etsy (hidden among dozens of seed listings); though, these will be 3+ years from blooming depending upon the growing conditions you provide.