The Tropical Fruit Forum

I know this is a “tropical fruit forum” so this may be out of place but in-line with our “tropical tree” discussion, I have this to post/ask:  I moved to this country as a teenager from then Czechoslovakia and still have a large family there I keep in touch with. In @ year 2000 when I brought  my wife to meet my family  there, I brought 3 baby chestnut trees back from my uncle’s farm.  My plan was to grow them in a container until we find a property that we’ll keep for the rest of our lives that also has the climate comparable to theirs in Europe, then plant them in the ground for good.  Here’s what happened:

In Bohemia, which has fairly severe, snowy winters, the trees drop leaves and go dormant @ October and start putting out leaves again @ April.  Well, fooled by California’s climate my continent-transplanted trees started to shoot out in February and, however, lose their leaves as soon as early August (!!)  They are EXTREMELY SLOWLY after all these years beginning to adjust to the existing season cycle, and have essentially turned into bonsai plants.  I got them to actually flower and produce chestnuts twice.

Now that we have “gone all in” for the Florida Keys property, the Czech chestnuts will have to go with us. Soooo: what are anybody’s experiences trying to grow an out-of-the-tropics tree in southern US? Even in a container?  Has anybody tried to grow a New Hampshire maple in Florida or Hawaii? What are the chances for my Czech chestnuts
.?

Or is our move a sure death for my family trees???

Greetings! I found this site while looking for info on growing macadamias in Southern Florida.  We are in the process of buying a house on Long Beach Rd. in Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys and plan to move there full time within the next 6 months.  Here in San Diego, when we bought our present house back in 95, we threw a housewarming party for our friends and asked them to bring a unique plant as a housewarming gift, if they'd like. Our accountant brought us a macadamia tree from a nursery near his house.  Since then it has grown quite large and in the past few years is giving us a near-constant plentiful supply of nuts. Some that fell I didn't notice and they sprouted and I now have plenty of 1-2 foot seedlings in pots that I plan to bring to the keys.  I hope to plant a few of them on our property, the rest are up for grabs whoever will want them.

We will be almost literally surrounded by water, the house is 8-10 feet above the low tide mark, so I expect many challenges in growing stuff and have a lot to learn.  Hopefully Mr. "From The Sea" on Big Pine will let me contact him for some information when we get down there!  There are plenty of various trees doing well around the house including a large plummeria and several exotic palms, as well as at least 10 varieties of other bushes and trees, so the soil cannot be all useless.  In addition to the macadamias, I'd like to grow some bananas, a mango and a few other exotic fruits - kind of make one side of the house be a "jungle orchard".  Where is the best place in the Keys to buy fruit trees?
Thanks and I am really glad I found this forum!