Hey John - a few things I've learned about Bay (we've now had 2 of them....)
In Raleigh, it seemed like a bad choice for permanent outside growing (note "seemed", not seems). We had it in a pot, moved it indoors in the winter. Bay appears to not enjoy being forgotten on the watering rounds, and we lost a plant we had for several years this way.
Last year I decided that since Raleigh seems to have gone zone 7 (when we moved in 17 years ago) to zone 8, we'd give it a shot and plant it outside to see if it made it through the winter. Though it was near the house, our winter was quite cold last year, so it was a good test. And it sailed through and is growing beautifully.
You are warmer than we are, so go for it - find it a good spot outside, keep it well watered - a few friends have them growing and they can get quite large.
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Craig
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