While this minutiae is still being discussed I might as well pick a bone with the opening statement: "I live in zone 9 in southern Brazil (equivalent to northern Florida or southern Georgia)" Generally not the case. If that were true, I would have moved to northern Florida a long time ago. If you go high enough to be USDA zone 9 in Brazil - because of the various factors I bring up repeatedly and will tediously rehash now, the cool ocean currents off the coast, the higher adiabatic lapse rate compared to the northern hemisphere, the prevailing high pressure patterns etc., summers in that zn 9 are NOTHING like those in north Florida. Here are Curitiba's stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curitiba max 78F/61F in summer A measly 3000 ft. of elevation, and the summers are almost as cool as SE England's. And it is probably closer to zn 10 all the same. You would have be north of Boston to have summers like that on the US East coast. I don't think it would be Picea pungens, but I have NO doubt you could find a very similar looking blue Picea from high-elevation cloud forest areas of Mexico that would be happy as a clam in zn 9 Brazil. Even Sao Paolo is zn 11 (!), and has very mild summers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo

As I mentioned above, these micro lotus can only be propagated vegetatively afaik. So you can't grow them from seed. It wasn't a 'bad batch'. It was a lie. They did dupe you. It's not the cost. It's that they sold you a non existent product. Not many people will bother to ask for a refund and that's how they maje their money. There are pygmy water lilies (not Lotus) which can be grown from seed but you'd need to find a reputable dealer in unusual plants to obtain them. If you are a beginniner I would recommend never buying from eBay or Amazon until you have enough experience to spot whether what is being offered is plausible.

This story has been on the news for the last couple of days. Please do not plant they are saying. Not even as an experiment. The world is a crazy place lately,,,

According to the news, these unsolicited seeds are fairly widespread. One has to wonder at the possible motive, and err on the side of caution. Personally, I would not even open such a questionable package, and would either return it to the PO, or contact my county Extension office for disposition.