Even here in zone 8, I took some chances on different plants, too. For example, I read that amaryllis can be planted with even as much as half of the bulb above ground. That works fine in warm weather, but because I leave my bulbs in-ground all year, I found that planting them up to their necks helps them survive a cold snowy or icy weather, when it does sometimes happen. Another case would be that while many vinca do die back with the frost, there seem to be some plants that at least retain leaves and greenery, and grow back in the following spring. As a result, I tend to remove some plants in the following spring, not during the bleak winter months. Doing this, I have found that dianthus and snapdragons, sometimes vinca, can survive through the winters here. And most of the bulb plants can stay outside, too, such as gladiolus, amaryllis, dahlias, etc, including being in pots.

The flowers don't open up any more than this picture shows. Don't think they resemble Indian Paintbrush. I read somewhere else on this forum that they're annual and I don't understand that...I still have the tag from mine: "Perennial. Beach Wormwood. Artemisia stelleriana 'Silver Brocade' Zones 3-9."

Just a note, the "Silver Brocade" is actually a variety of artemesia, not senecio. Artemesia tends to be much hardier than senecio cultivars. This past winter all of my (poorly mulched) Dusty Millers along with my snaps survived in my 6A garden; it was a relatively mild winter but we did have temperatures in the single digits for a while. I think a lot of us have microclimates in our gardens and beds that are a zone or two higher than the technical zone for our geographical area. Especially if you live in an area with lots of houses and trees, all of your neighbors provide more shelter than you'd think, and then your own house and plantings provide more.

Thank you both for the warm wishes. I wished Brian a happy birthday from everyone. We really didn't have a lot of plans made. It's so rare that we get time together that we sort of lived it up the last time the kids went away for a few days. We basically spent the entire day sleeping and watching TV. We did grill some nice fat steaks though which sure did beat eating out. Little did we know how much we would need that rest come Saturday. We actually ended up having to drive to Georgia to go pick the kids up. It's supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive but apparently there was a wreck on our way there. I never saw evidence of a wreck but needless to say we left at 1pm and didn't get there until almost 8pm. There were people all along the road overheated and broke down from waiting in the traffic. Our car has a radiator leak in it and I was certain we were next. BLAH? Anyway, fortunately we got through it with the heat blaring uneventfully and at least we got to laze around the Chattahoochee for a while afterward and I officially saw my sister off. She will be going to China in a week so this will be the last time I see her for at least six months. As far as kids and school goes, I home school so we just finished testing and I have to send their tests in this week. Not quite uneventful this time of year but I am happy to not have to attend open houses and all of the other complexities of starting public school. I think I would go into sensory overload. I admire those who can deal with it heh. ANYWAY..(babble babble) I went ahead and dug up a few of those sunflowers tonight and I'll get that dusty miller out of the ground tomorrow sometime. They will be in the dirt they were planted in which is our marvelous Carolina clay but they both grow magnificently in it. I'll have to go through my emails. I think I am suppose to bring you some other stuff and I'll make sure to get that together as well. Fran - They are calling for it to rain all week.. not that what they call for makes a difference here lately but... whenever you'd like to stop by and get a piece you are welcome. I'm best after 5pm haha. You are close enough to me though that you'd probably do better getting some in the spring. I have little pieces to share here and there right now but in the spring I usually ditch a whole bunch of it while thinning it out and moving it around. With as big as my yard is, it really isn't cultivated enough to move much around and I don't want it in the big flower bed anymore so I pass it along in huge clumps to anyone who will take it.