Indeed, they may be quite hardy. I know of a T. oreades and T. truncata on the Oregon Coast that both endured 10F in 1990 without harm. They are now large plants. I don't know of any large specimens the interior of western Washington or Oregon, but they have a good chance of being successful, especially in sheltered gardens. Many Grevilleas are quite cold hardy as well.

10 degrees F. is not a preselecting trial for past conditions in western Washington. Rhododendrons hardy to that level would have been called "tender" when I was going to Seattle Rhododendron Society meetings. You don't have to go very far from Puget Sound at all for tempertatures during cold winters to drop below double digits. However, if global warming causes the Oregon coast climate to creep up here in the coming decades, maybe it will become more suitable for California Specials.

Last thing I heard was we were in for hotter summers but also darker springs. And the water supply is under serious threat (40% or worse reductions expected in Cascade snowpacks by 2040), so if there is no water available for gardening it won't matter how mild the winters are.

Well it all depends on just where you are doesn't it? And, it depends on whether you insist upon everything in your garden enduring the harshest of winters without harm, which I think fewer people do now than they used to. I do think the cold winters of the 80s will return, but in the case of something like Telopea, we have a promising plant that has been tried little if at all that has no reason to be any less hardy than its close relative Embothrium.

How do you know Telopeas haven't been planted and frozen out up here many times? Mostly unavailable until now? There really have been alot of gardeners, both institutional (as at the (now) English Botanical Garden, the (now) UW Botanical Gardens, Seattle City Light etc.) and hobbyist trying alot of different kinds of plants here for a long time before those of us on the scene at this late date came along. Back when there were paper cards accessible to the general public the file of Tried and Died plants at the Seattle arboretum alone was hugely bigger than the one containing the records of those still present in the collections. Unless a plant is known to have not been circulated at all here in the past, I wouldn't assume any particular item had not been tested.

It All Starts With Me seems to be a consistent feature of Zonal Denial. Another one is I've Had It Overwinter Once, So It's Hardy Here.

I don't doubt that a few people have tried Telopeas in the past, though perhaps not all four species, and certainly not some of the newer hybrids. Forestfarm has carried them off and on, and perhaps local nurseries have in the past as well. Some may have frozen and been removed, or died for other reasons (I know they are susceptible to root rot and, like all Proteaceae, high levels of phosphorus). Maybe some are still alive tucked away in some garden.

I can be pretty certain they have not been tried extensively. Telopea has a lignotuber which enables it to grow back from the stump if it is harmed by fire or frost. Yet not a stumpy small plant remains that I know of, which would tell me if they were tried, it was not very much. Also, we both know that the Arboretum is not a great measuring stick for what will grow in milder parts of the Puget Sound area, since it is one of the coldest places in Seattle (though, of course, not as cold as some outlying areas), and because soil drainage is poor throughout much of the Arboretum. Additionally, the Arboretum may not have had the resources to pursue high elevation and cold hardy forms of certain plants whose hardiness is marginal, especially Southern Hemisphere species (this is often still the case today, however).

The idea that the whole park is a dank frost pocket into which plants which would thrive just about anywhere else in town are stuck and fail because the site is atypical is patently false. Much of the Seattle arboretum consists of two major sections, an upper area with deep, sandy soil and warm aspects (when native trees are cleared) and lower portion with poorer air and soil drainage. And with 200 acres involved, there is a variety of specific situations within this general pattern.

At least a few quite astute plantspersons have been involved with building up the collections there in the past. The original taxonomic layout was abandoned in favor of placing particular plants where they would seem most likely to live a pretty long time ago.

Being large and partly wooded (now) the site provides superior growing opportunities for plants liking woodland conditions that are rarely possible to duplicate elsewhere in town--at least on the same scale. The arboretum has the best large-growing, precocious blooming (flowering before the leaves) Asiatic magnolias for instance, even the English Botanical Garden in the mild Ballard neighborhood is mostly too small and exposed to grow and display these nearly as effectively (if they tried one up at the top, inside that amphitheature of trees that might work out).

Ohhhh, wait a minute: you're talking about those peas that grow up real tall on wires or tripods. Yeah, I've seen those here.

"It All Starts With Me seems to be a consistent feature of Zonal Denial. Another one is I've Had It Overwinter Once, So It's Hardy Here."

I'll take responsibility for my own denial, thank you.
Anybody know where to get telopea cuttings or starts?

Thanks

2 species have been offered by Australian Native Plants in Ventura, California and Cistus nursery, Sauvie Island, Oregon (near Portland). Do not know current supply. Both operations have had web sites put up. Have not visited the one from the California company, assume it is still going.