I'm also interested in growing euonymus in zone 3. Hopefully someone else may jump in on that one. As for verbascum hybrids, I tried one last summer and it didn't make it through the winter. Mind you, it wasn't in a sheltered spot or protected, other than lots of snow, so maybe added protection may be the key?
Laurie

I've found Verbascum nigrum, various V. phoenicium varieties, and V. chaixii v. album to be fully hardy and fully perennial over many years. They don't need any special care or protection, and will soon seed themselves rampantly throughout your yard, LOL! But they are beautiful plants. We may have something of an advantage in colder zones, because these species tend to act as biennials in warmer areas, but are solidly perennial here. (To be clear, there are also biennial species that act as biennials here too, such as V. bombyciferum.)
And as I already answered in your posting in "Canadian Gardening" (and I assume that's why cross-posting the same question on different forums is discouraged), V. 'Helen Johnson' (a phoenicium variety) is also hardy and perennial here. So have fun with them - great plants!

Thanks.... my Calgarian guru....;o)..... sorry about the dual posting..... I think I will simply eliminate the Canadian gardening forum from my screen as it tends to be of secondary relevance....great to hear about Verbascums.... are you a nursery owner.... a provider of plants/seeds? You definitely seem to be very knowlegeable and helpful...thanks!

So as to Euonymus...any chance for Laurie and me?

I live at the confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers near Hazelton,BC.... and we tend to be a bona fide transition zone in which we are forced to consider zones 3,4 and 5 seriously..... seemingly not wishfully as our climates begin to change.

Also, I ran across an item about a new Forsythia hybrid..."Goldilocks'.... a dwarf variety created in France.... a zone 5 that grows 4 feet and is very unlike its unruly giant relatives..... and the article suggests that one could grow it in a pot and overwinter it in a suitable place of protection..... what do you think? I would like to also do this with Weigla 'Midnight Wine'.... a diminutive version of 'Wine and Roses' weigla.... it grows just 2 feet high and 2 feet wide.

Hope I am not overburdening you.....but it is very much appreciated to have one such as you so willing to inform us of such thinks.....

Thanks again,Ron

Ron,
The Hazeltons seem to have a two week advantage over Smithers at each end of the growing season.
As to zones I suspect that you will have to write your own rulebook depending on how close you are to the river and your elevation.

"Gardening Between Frosts" by Dave Havard is the gardening bible for the Bulkely Valley. He does mention the Hazeltons as a special case.

It is a pity that the scenery and the ÂKsan complex would be off topic in this forum. Unless it impacts your garden the extremely vertical nature of the landscape in your vicinity seems to be out of bounds here.

Ian

The way things are going here, i think we need a "Conversations" area. :)

Marcia, you may be right about a need for a 'conversation pit'.... especially when we need to palaver passionately about our horticultural 'afflictions'....lol

Ian.... a fellow Bulkley Valleyite!!! Yes, Hazelton does have a two-week leg up on Smitherine gardening.... so yopu can appreciate my zonal challenges.... not so cut and dry anymore.... I really should read DH's book.... I have been aware of him for 30 years....and know he has a thing or two to say about gardening for sure!

Richest blessings of fecundity on everyone's gardens!

Ron

Ian,
To answer your questions, no, I'm just a gardener but I've tried a few plants.
Re. Euonymus alata, see the answers to your other posting in "Canadian Gardening".
Sorry, don't know anything about the forsythia, and have only had weigelas die back to the ground here. (There is almost no limit to the perennials one can grow here, but dying to the ground is not my idea of how a woody plant would do best, or would "choose" to grow, if it had its druthers!) But I'm sure if you post on the Far North forum, for example, about weigelas, you'll find lots of people who are delighted with the performance of theirs. The chinooks and dry conditions here tend to be rather unkind to marginally hardy woodies, and even the regular old types of forsythias often only bloom on the lowermost branches, but it sounds as if you are in rather different conditions.