That's cool!!! I read in the paper a few months ago that we had been moved to a z8..I have Dat's that wintered over like a perinnial.
Chena

No changes for us.
Tally HO!

I think those people that will attempt to think their zone is warmer and try growing perennials appropriate for that will end up regretting it..didn't this past winter proven anything to anyone?...It's NOT NICE to MESS with MOTHER NATURE!!..LOL....Jeanne

The first good cold winter and they will find out that Dallas and north Texas are not really solid zone 8. We are still zone 7-8 for my money. We will see temperatures below 10 degrees periodically.

Jeanne and Bandit...I'm with you. I'm still in a 7a-kind-of frame of mind.

7b here too. I know some 8a plants wont make it without a micro climate. PJ

Wasn't it about 25 years ago that we were changed from 8 to 7 due to a couple of hard winters? I particularly remember that all the crepe myrtles in Flower Mound froze to the ground and didn't come back until the summer of the following year.

It was also the only winter we had pipes freeze in our house.

I think the weather is just crazy!!! They say that Espranza is an annual here.. Never new that.. mine has come back for 6 yrs. I do have other things coming back that are suppose to be annuals... Ive been on this property for 12 yrs.. We have been in a drought (at my house anyway) for that long.. This rain this spring is something new and exciting.. I have seen it stay 105 for a week at a time and I have seen it 12 for that long as well..I don't know if all that Z thing means much to me but I can grow things that I couldn't have 15 yrs. ago.. What ever I'm diggin it!!!LOL
Chena

I'm myself hoping for a couple of mild winters, since I just planted a Sago out in an exposed, sunny location moving it from a shady protected spot. I love tropicals and have many brugs, and also just planted a dwarf banana and a petite oleander.

The thing is, there's nothing to stop that cold weather coming down from the north. Saying that the zones have changed seems like it'd require data keeping for long periods of time. 15 years is really a VERY short time span.

Your right it is!!! MULCH MULCH MULCH!!!!! It is amazing the things that will gladly return with just a little protection.. I see Sago's all over the place.. Does it take a couple of yr's to get established??? They winter over just fine here...I'm in Millsap where are you at??
Chena

Chena, does that mean I can put this monstrous Sago I have in a container in the ground, and expect it to survive? Tell me it is so !!!!!

I'm in Longview. My sago was in a small area surrounded by the house and a wooden fence. I was covering the crown with leaves from the large oak tree that provided heavy shade in the summer. But it seemed it wasn't getting enough sun. So I moved it out front in a exposed location. Hoping it will flush with new growth before winter.

It was actually growing in a very large pot which I had sunk in the ground. When I moved it I cut the pot away, allowing the roots to spread out. It's looking a little sad now, with yellowing and spotted fronds. No sign of mites that I can see, though it almost looks like mite damage. Maybe just sunburn and shock.

I'm thinking that if we have a severe cold snap next winter, I will tie the fronds up and wrap it with bubble wrap. ???

Here's the NYTimes article:

Feeling Warmth, Subtropical Plants Move North

(click the below)

Here is a link that might be useful: NYTimes article on Zone shift

Our bigger one has been in the ground for about 10 years. The first few winters we'd wrap it with towels and then newspapers and put a metal milk crate over it to hold the wrappings in place. The last few years we've done nothing to protect it.

It is in front of the house about 10 feet from the house. Gets almost all day full sun year round.

The smaller one was put in the bed spring before last.
I should have protected it this winter, but it slipped my mind. Its coming back too.

I'm just north of DFW Airport.

I'm still thinking I'm in zone 7b. Only one of my mexican bush sages came back. None of my esperanzas. :(

More mulch next year.

What do y'all think about this, we are 40-50 miles ESE of Austin. We have plants that do well in exposed areas that and some of the same in protected areas that are supposed to be hardy in even 7 zone some make it, some don't, could it even be the individual plants for some reason like us some are hardier?
As long as I have been doing this, I still don't get some things that happen out in the garden, lol
jolana

chena, you're right about the mulch. I had a whole bed of annuals come back that were well mulched. Too bad I forgot to give them a good shot of fertilizer when they started peeking out.

I NEVER believe anything coming out of the New York Times..they have become a radical News Paper if you ask me!!..Jeanne