Our winters are drier than coastal Californian winters. We normally get our rains spread out throughout the year with heavier fall and May/june rains. It can rain any time or not at all. Mostly it is zone 9. The lowest it got last year was was 26 degrees. We are also very warm with an occasional sharp swing down for three days. Our normal lows are in the 40's in December and January with a occasion arctic blast that could take us down to 19 but hasn't for several years. I am still experiencing lows in the 60's. Our rainfall can vary from 34" to 11" per year. When it is really cold it is very dry. I have studied Daves Garden , Arid lands and San Marcus growers hardiness estimates and that is why I am taking a chance. I live in the uplands of the area and drainage is almost too much. Many plants live on my land that do not reside downhill. It is also colder downhill. I have many Zone 9 plants living unprotected. I have a gorge that starts on my property that drains off the cold and deposits it 4 miles away in a friends backyard. She can be 24 degrees and I will be above freezing still. She is at 700' above sea level and I am at 1400'. I guess it is all about micro climates. I am still figuring this one out. I hear about the popularity of Aloes in Californian landscaping and Texas seems similar in some respects but lags far behind in testing these plants out. I am only now figuring out how Californian winters and summers differ from mine and trying to make judgements about plants that would or would not work here.. I have some friends in and around California and this year I have been following their weather on Weatherunderground and comparing highs and lows with me. Yes, I am obsessive. I do have freeze cloths. They do work wonders. I guess I am one to take chances.

Sorry about your thread op. I dont think the people picked or attacked you but people are passionate about plants. It was nice of a local Okla. person to pipe up to try and clarify the situation that you found the plants in. It didnt sound like a area that was going to be spayed or regraded if there was that diverse of variety. A few years ago driving down a logging road I saw the most beautiful white and red wild columbine all by its lonesome with other wild flowers but only the one columbine. We got lost and was driving back by an hour later to find two women digging it up. You mentioned going back with 5 gallon pails. So I think people wanted to make sure you knew what effect things like that can have. Lots if people are naive to things like that and I think the other posters where shocked like I was, most places around where I live ditch or not plants 'weeds' or not are left for all to enjoy. I did find another one of those columbines on a lake beach last year which just has ripe seeds which I took some of but still scattered a few incase the plant didnt make it. If there was alot of these plants and you had the right kind of garden to transplant them into and wernt taking away the chance of a plant to naturalize in a area. I would think it would be ok.

I plant a wide variety of plants to attract not only beneficial insects, but also all wildlife, including birds (including hummingbirds) and lizards. Our yards and gardens are ecosystems and they function best when well-populated. Most of the plants I plant to attract beneficial insects are in the border that surrounds the garden on three sides (the fourth side is a woodland with edge plants of its own like Joe Pye Weed, boneset and western ironweed). I call it a border but it really is not designed for aesthetics--it is merely a hodgepodge of plants and herbs planted to attract beneficial insects and pollinators of all kinds, bees, butterflies and moths, and hummingbirds. These are the plants in my borders and my mixed shrub/flower beds most years: larkspur evening primrose Corn poppies Oriental poppies Opium poppies California poppies Catnip (attracts beneficials most after it flowers, but attracts cats all the time) Johnny Jump-ups (viola) Petunias (mostly the Laura Bush purple and pink) Catmint (attracts beneficials but only two of my cats like it, and Yellow Cat doesn't just like it, he loves it) Statice Sweet alyssum Calendula Yarrow (both native and cultivated forms) Borage (blue-flowered ones and white-flowered ones) Four O'Clocks Flowering tobacco (nicotianas)---many kinds Pincushion flower (scabiosa) Mexican sunflower (tithonia) Annual sunflower Perennial sunflower (Maxmilian's sunflower) lemon balm parsley dill cilantro Texas Hummingbird Sage Clary Sage Salvias of many other kinds Alliums (flowering onions, both the purely ornamental kind and a few culinary onions left in the ground each year so it will flower the following year) Coreopsis Fennel Mints (invasive, so I plant them along the fenceline where they can slug it out with the bermuda grass, and have a barrier in the soil to keep them from taking over the whole border) Tansy Feverfew Chives (if allowed to flower in early spring, they attract tons of beneficials, and mine usually bloom beginning in late Feb. or early Mar. when other blooms are sparse) milkweed veronica Western Ironweed Beautyberry Rosemary lavender shasta daisies iris daffodils dutch hyacinths purple coneflower white coneflower Tall verbena (verbena bonariensis) gladiolas hollyhock French hollyhock (Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina') These climb portions of the garden fence: morning glories black-eyed susan vines hyacinth bean vine cypress vine moonvine coral honeysuckle Our pastures and meadows are full of wildflowers and other plants that attract many beneficials. Some of them were here when we moved here, and I planted the others by sowing wildflower seed mixes the first couple of years: turk's cap lily spring beauty Texas bluebonnet rain lilies green milkweed blanketflower blue-eyed grass poppy mallow wine cup prairie celestial partridge pea swamp mallow butterfly weed purple groundcherry Louisiana phlox (Phlox divaricata) prickly poppy rudbeckia hirra Indian paintbrush corn poppy wild onion and wild garlic horsemint autumn sage liatris Mexican hat Golden wave (coreopsis tinctoria) dayflower (Commelina) mistflower (on the creek banks) Texas frogfruit Meadow pinks blackfoot daisy prairie penstemon pink evening primrose prickly pear cactus ox-eye daisy goldenrod wild foxglove Mexican petunia Engleman daisy blackfoot daisy greenthread daisy heath aster (blooms in fall) Huisache daisy compass plant purple phacelia We also choose and select trees, shrubs and vines that attract beneficials and wildlife. On that list are these: Perennial Vines: Wisteria American Crossvine (for the hummers) Trumpet creeper (orange-flowered and yellow-flowered versions) Passionflower vine Sweet autumn clematis coral honeysuckle Virginia creeper Trees: Desert Willow (not a desert plant and not a willow either, Chilopsis linearis) Chastetree Chinaberry (the flowers are very attractive to wildlife) Suman (flowers attract wildlife) Fruit trees (when fruit trees like plums, peaches, apricots and cherries are in bloom, you'll have bees everywhere in great profusion) Oklahoma Redbud Mexican Plum Willows (attract many kinds of beneficials and some butterfleis) Shrubs: (choose shrubs with berries and they'll attract tiny beneficials, including bees, in spring and birds in the winter) possumhaw holly southern wax myrtle Burford holly Rusty blackhaw viburnum Buttonbush (on the edge of the swamp where we also planted swamp mallow) Groundcovers can attract beneficials if they bloom or produce berries, and also provide cover for insects that lay their eggs on the ground, in the ground or close to the ground). The groundcovers we have that are most popular with beneficial insects are ajuga and purple wintercreeper. Groundcovers that grow in the woods that wildlife enjoy include: partridge berry coral berry Native Oklahoma plums grow along some of our fencelines and attract beneficials. Don't forget that native grasses often help attract and feed wildlife too, especially if you leave the grasses standing in winter for the birds that like tiny grass seeds. We have these in various places. Some grow out in sunny pastures, others grow on the shadier edges where woodland meets pasture, and some grow only on pond banks or in the swamp: little bluestem big bluestem lovegrass muhly grass green spangletop bushy bluestem Indian grass curly mesquite grass foxtail grass eastern gammagrass inland sea oats sideoats grama switchgrass Water Plants If you have any sort of a body of water, the plants that grow in the water and around the water are attractive to wildlife. In our lily pond, the water lily foliage provides cover for the fish and frogs in the pond, and of course the frogs like to sit on the lily pads. Pickerel Weed is a tall flowering water plant that is attractive to bees and other beneficials. Cat-tails, as annoying and invasive as they all, provide winter food for many birds. In general, though, the birds at our place only eat the cat-tail seeds during snowy, icy weather when the grass seedheads they prefer are covering by snow or coated in ice. We also, when clearing the woodland, left every plant that wildlife like, even if they are plants humans are not especially fond of, like greenbrier and poison ivy, both of which provide berries for the birds in winter. I could go on forever, but I need to go plant peas. Dawn

Wilmington is Sunset Zone 31. Other cities in your zone are Virginia Beach, Augusta Ga, Vidalia GA, Montgomery AL, Jackson Ms, Alexandria LA, Bryan TX and Austin TX. Out of your zone to the South(28)are Charleston SC, Savannah, Jacskonville, Tallahasse, Mobile, New Orlean, Houston, and Corpus Christi. Out of your zone to the north(32) are Raleigh, Charlotte Columbia SC and Atlanta. USDA zones are for surviving average annual low temps. Sunset zones are for surviving average annual low temps, plus surviving heat and humidity of Summer. Sunset takes into account Latidude, Elevation, Wind patterns, proximity to the oceans, great lakes, and mountain ranges. I guess using there zones only works if you can find the zone ratings from plants they list. They are a publishing company in business to sell books and magazines. The book I have is a softback called "Sunset National Garden Book For the US and Canada" and is 650 pages.