You might just try rooting the cut flowers as cuttings in perlite under mist propagation, after cutting off the flowers. Proteas need good air circulation to avoid getting fungal infections while rooting, as well as in general conditions. Leucospermums tend to root fastest in spring and fall seasons, and prefer nights in the 50'sF warming up into the 60's/low 70'sF in the daytime. They can also be started from seed, and you could order seed from South Africa from SilverHill Seeds. I see that Nurseryman's Exchange Wholesale Nursery here in California is currently supplying blooming 6 inch pots of Leucospermum cordifolium to the local Home Depot store nurseries, so maybe you could enquire if the owner of your shop could order some in. I suspect it would be a pain in the neck to do at this time of year, because they would need to be shipped by air or refrigerated truck to survive the trip. I know they do grow proteas successfully in Pennsylvania at that big estate garden outside Philadelphia, in their cool greenhouse with the other Mediterranean climate plants, the part designed by Isabelle Green, so it can be done. I think they actually dehumidify the air and chill it to get all the typical California garden plants to remain happy in summer there.

On the other hand, I am not sure how well they will tend to do outdoors in summer with all your heat and humidity and summer rains. They are really better adapted to cooler summers with drier air

So far 4 of the 6 protea seeds I started have sprouted. I got mine from: FineBushPeople.co.za I know that they also ship to the US since they graciously replaced at the cost of shipment the certified seed which was confiscated by customs upon my return. Their starter pack includes extensive instructions for starting and culture and includes the smoke primer needed for germination. Judy WWW

Bahia is right. Most of them are going to be terribly difficult on the East Coast. I've tried and the seedlings, at least, tend to die on the first hot and humid day. I think this is what would happen, eventually, with most of the protea plants if one could actually obtain them. (and yes, the conservatory at Longwood Gardens that grows rare subtropical plants from mild climates is air conditioned! A luxury I daresay most of us could not afford. Since he knew the name of the designer, can we assume he was being cheeky by calling it the "big estate garden outside Philadelphia"? Haha...good one. The next time I need to mention Kew I'm going to call it "the big botanical garden in SW London.")

An option is to try to find Protea species that SHOULD be more tolerant. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, as they would not grow easily in California, and Florida is just too hot for them. The distribution map of Protea caffra seems to place it in parts of Eastern South Africa and Mozambique, Zimbabwe, etc. that might get somewhat hot and humid. Protea simplex is a dwarf relative of it. The problem with the montane Drakensberg species is, sure, they like summer rain (unlike the proteas grown in California, which are winter growers), but in fact that climate often has cool dry air that is briefly punctuated by storms, rather than our constant steam bath.

Another option is to do what he said, just root some of the leftovers from your flower biz., and try them in containers. Because of some random spin of the genetic dice, there's no telling whether CERTAIN Cape species (the kind grown in Cali.) might be able to in fact, tolerate our weather. (of course, talking about summer weather here, they are going to need to be kept in a greenhouse in the winter) Keep in mind this happens all the time, just to less of a degree. The Himalayan Rhododendrons grown, say, on the West Coast of England, aren't really happy with the winters being so wet compared to their homeland, but they can manage it. The plants that absolutely won't take a climate different from their local one are the exception, not the rule. Why don't western Blue Brodiaea bulbs rot in our wet eastern summers? I don't know, but they don't. It's just that you are asking a lot for these proteas to survive quite a different regime from their native environment, and proteas being the strange group that they are, have adaptability issues, period. Like not being able to handle phosphorus fertilizer.

Interesting post David......

Last fall in the Drakensberg I got to hike through a forest of Protea Caffra which was just beginning to bloom. It was at significant altitude probably around 4,000', bloom was late because of a late cold snap including some early october snow in the area. We had to get off the mountain faster than planned because a heavy and spectacular rain/lightening storm moved in. The "forest" was on a steep hillside providing good drainage for those spring/summer rains but I also observed that the soil was quite heavy slippery red clay unlike the Cape soil where the fynbos including a myriad of spectacular proteas thrive. The problem is that the Caffra really is a TREE. I think the smallest blooming ones I saw were 6 to 8 feet with many at least 15'. But who knows somethings are happy in pots and bloom well when kept small.

The seeds which I purchased from FineBushPeople.co.za continue to do well and came with extensive instructions.

Another thought is a book I picked up at Kirstenbosch: 'Grow Fynbos Plants' by Neville Brown and Graham Duncan. It is part of the Kirstenbosch Gardening Series and easily obtained from the Kirstenbosch website. They say that the King Protea (Protea cynaroides) is actually the easiest. They note that it is a water loving species and grows naturally in damp areas even though it also thrives in well drained sites like Table Mountain. They specifically state that it is suitable for growing under glass. Since this book is devoted to Fynbos they do not include P. caffra.

jwww