Has anyone from Maryland or Northern Virginia or Delaware succeeded in growing a Live Oak in their yard? Is Zone 8 a hard northernmost limit on their range? I read a paper about some university researchers working at a Boston Arboretum trying to grow them from seed up north (kinda like the strains of cedar of Lebanon that they found in Turkey that can grow in zone 6). It'll be a while before they have any results (if at all). In the mean time, I'm looking for anecdotal sources. I'd love to find an individual specimen that's just a bit more cold hardy than average and plant it on a wind-sheltered, south-facing hillside with nutrient-rich, well-drained soil, but I'm not certain that will work on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, especially since I'm near the Pennsylvania line. I'd love to hear your thoughts, or perhaps recommendations on establishing a cold-hardy cultivar if none exists.
