Hello all,

First off, thank everybody for their amazing contributions to the depth of knowledge on this website. I have been reading a ton and recently got full membership, so thanks to anybody that voted for me.

As the title says, I live in hardiness zone 7a. Not the most ideal for a lot of the plants of interest, though I know there are techniques that can help plants survive the winter. I have read the whole (awesome) acacia growing thread and may take a chance on one of the more hardy varieties. Off hand, what else could I potentially grow outdoors? Would P. Viridis be at all possible? Anything inside with just natural sunlight?

We are in the process of looking to buy property and I would like to get started planning. Not planning an indoor grow room, but small outdoor greenhouse might be possible.

Thanks all!

You can attempt viridis but it will need to be potted and come in for the winter and may require supplemental lighting. Same for caapi, coca, iboga, any of the warm climate species.

Trichocereus is a great option, you will either need to devise a greenhouse setup that will prevent them from freezing or bring them in and let them go dormant for the winter.

Certainly plant out an Acacia acuminata and an obtusifolia and any other of the more hardy varieties you can find. They are great nitrogen fixers in any garden.

Desmanthus illinoensis and Phalaris arundinacea are plenty hardy without any cover in zone 7.

You can look into morning glory or passiflora for fencelines or create trellises. They are likely to reseed themselves, but the latter may require taking a cutting to bring in over winter.

You can also try some woodloving mushrooms in a woodchip bed, or even some standard cubies in a well mulched garden, assuming you can provide enough moisture.

Salvia divinorum does fine in a pot in a sunny windowsill over the winter.

Most changa herbs should do fine in the ground with little attention.

Just a few off the top of my head, hope it helps

You can add Desmanthus leptolobus and Peganum harmala to the list.

Has it actually been proven that Acacia acuminata is zone 7 hardy? I thought that was only theoretical based on them surviving the odd freeze in australia. Theres a big difference between freezing for two hours, and freezing for two weeks or more.

I'm not sure it's been completely confirmed to be honest, but I'm willing to give it a shot based on my research. I know it could throw away a lot of time and work, but if I find that it does work and I can be growing it in my yard...

Thank you both for the contributions! I will definitely try Viridis, but yeah...we'll see how that goes.

I was unable to find an actual USDA zone hardiness rating for leptolobus, though it is native from Texas to Missouri, so it's very likely it will manage a moderate winter.

Peganum harmala is hardy, but finnicky, def worth giving a try.

The acuminata info is based on Nen's top acacias to grow worldwide thread which rates it down to -10c. I'll let ya know for sure how it stands a zone 6b/7a winter next spring . It might be wise to bring smaller trees indoors or cover larger trees outdoors in the manner of a fig trees. In any case these trees are very useful as nitrogen fixers and/or mulch. If your trees don't make it, you can always try that psilo cyan bed using acacia wood chips.

Yeah, that's the idea. Until they get too big I would carefully cover/wrap the acacia and potentially pack it with straw. There are some other tricks, too. It still might not be enough, but I think it's worth a shot.

And I like the way you think with that psilo bed with acacia chips

Any luck with the acuminata making it through the winter?

Unfortunately not, we even had a very very mild winter don't think the temp really dropped below about 20f. My plants were about 2 years old, grown from seed indoors. In retrospect I'd probably just seed a large area outdoors and let em ground grow from the start, or if growing in a pot, let them grow for 3-5 years and get really well established before trying to have them brave a winter.