I think three time is the charm--or the curse! Usually if it does well on the west coast it won't do well here. There are exceptions--camellias being the ones that come first to my mind. I grew up in western Washington, lived in various places in western Oregon, had a couple kids go to college in California and stayed there--they have some humidity in the winter but not in the summer. They can occasionally get hot in the summer, off and on for a few months, but since it's dry it cools off at night. Can you imagine knowing you should take a jacket if you're going to be out in the evening in July and August? Taken for granted there. Makes a lot of difference for plants. I'm glad you posted about phygellius--I'd been tempted to try them. Just remember, there are lots of plants they can't grow because they can't store up enough heat in the summer to bloom or to make it through the winter even!

While it's true that some plants will simply not grow on the coast because of lack of chill hours in winter or high summer temps, it's also possible that we need to adjust our growing conditions or work with certain cultivars or species to be successful with some plants. I just got a Phygelius and researched its culture. I ran across the link below -- the University of Florida has been testing Phygelius for commercial production and having success.

The difference is that it ceases to flower for us in the hottest months at which time it should be trimmed back, but that it can be "summered over".

There's two species of Phygelius. The U of Fl found that the "cultivars of P. x rectus seem to exhibit better heat and sun tolerance than P. aequalis."

I'll report on whether my phygelius makes it through the summer.

Monica

Here is a link that might be useful: Full report on Phygelius from U of Florida