While working on the Big Dig (which is now, mercifully, finished), I made a couple of discoveries that amazed and delighted me. It also convinced me once again of the value in pushing the envelope in terms of plant material. The first thing was finding that the phygelius 'Cherry Ripe' that I planted in two spots "front of house", as they say in the restaurant trade, had not only survived but thrived. This South African native is only supposed to be hardy to zone 7, and while its location here is full south and full sun, we still have serious winters here in western NY. My other nudge to the envelope flap turned out to be a complete surprise. I had purchased a blue tweedia at my favorite unusual plants nursery last year, and put it in the same area as the phygelius. Much to my astonishment, I have a small plant about 6" high and quite healthy (hopefully the uprooting and potting won't do it in). The real surprise here is that tweedia hails from Brazil and Uruguay, and is only hardy to zone 10. I am zone 5 - I don't care what the zone map claims - and that shouldn't have lived to germinate. Amazing.
I've pulled this off a couple times in the past as well. For instance, several years back I planted a calla lily at the back of my house, which is mainly shade and faces north, with no protection from the nasty winds we get in winter. That fall, I got busy with other things and neglected to dig the bulb up. Imagine my surprise when the silly thing came up and bloomed not once, but 3 years in a row! It was fun to beat the system, as it were, and I think everyone should try it at least once.........just because you can.
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