John, Thank you for visiting the site and thank you for the kind words. The Trials have been a labor of love, and with the extremely cold winters we've been having here in the South, we have learned a lot over the last few years.

The seed and recommendation has indeed come from Graham who also suspected more cold hardiness from E. elliptica. All 5 trees in zone 8a Trials survived two winters, with little to no dieback, at two days at 6f and 6-8 days in the high single digits. Also had trees, that were planted in the middle of a field, grow back from their base following a zone 7a winter that saw temps close to zero.

Thank you for the correct ID on the nitens photo. Will make that correction.