I suppose this is more a question of your gardening philosophy than anything else, but in planting long-lived plants like camellias do you think a wise gardener should plant according to his USDA climate zone, which is based on average lows, or on historical record lows which could potentially kill plants that normally fall into zone descriptions. In other words, should I in zone 7 plant large numbers of camellias listed as hardy to 7, knowing that many of them could be severely damaged by a once every twenty or thirty year low or even killed by a once a century low? Should I, instead, plant one zone lower, 6, which would survive long after I'm gone?

After all, life is short--is it worth having a 15 year old camellia if it gets cut back hard in year 16?