That's really pathetic.

You can't quite pull Lychee off past South Florida unless you build a tent over it, though. I talked to a man in Groveland who had one for a few years and kept it going by putting it under its own personal greenhouse. It produced phenomenally, by his account. One year, he told me he decided it was big enough to live without it… and when the cold came, it died.

I have a small one in my greenhouse that's loaded with flowers right now. It originally came from Lowe's. I have no idea why they're selling them here but I'm sure people are finding them a great disappointment.

It could be done. The problem with lychees is that they get big. So unlike some of the small tropical plants/trees I pull off by my south wall (guavas, key limes, papaya, pineapples), you have the potential for a too-big tree that will cause trouble and be unprotectable.

If I really wanted to grow a tropical tree, and had the resources, I'd hire a guy to come out and dig a 15' x 15' hole in my yard about 6' deep. Then I'd line the inside of that with water barrels/support beams and build up a greenhouse frame another 9' or so above it. That gives me a 15' cube with thermal protection emanating from the ground and walls, plus the water barrels. In the winter, I'd cover the whole thing with plastic, then remove the plastic in the summer. You could grow a lychee in there for sure, with some judicious pruning. Additionally, you could add in tilapia tanks instead of water barrels… extra tropical shrubs… tomatoes… etc.