I have heard conflicting reports about lobelia making it through winter here in Mississippi. I decided to invest in a whole packet of seed and find out this year. I would certainly think they would do well in zone 9. What do you have to lose?

It does not go through the winter here, however it does reseed itself regularly. Al

I saw this thread and thought I'd give you an update. I did my experiment with some interesting results. I put lobelia (Crystal Palace) in three pots. One on my front porch, under the roof, by the brick wall; and two in concrete pots at the foot of the porch steps out in the open. Frosts burned the ones in the open pretty badly, but they didn't die. The ones on the porch under cover were un-fazed. Week before last it fell into the low twenties, and the pots in the open gave up the ghost. This past week it went below twenty degrees two nights in a row. They're all toast now. I'm glad Lowe's carries pansies all winter long:)

So far, so good: The plants have been zapped by frost, but they are still alive. Also, I just this week (after some lovely rain, and then a bit of sun) saw lots and lots of new seedlings coming up. So either way, I guess I'll have lobelias!
Thanks, everyone.
Laura