Pleasant Surprises

Even though temperatures are back to normal now -- even a bit above with high 50's F expected at least one day this holiday weekend -- we had a pretty severe cold spell a week or so ago. Temperatures dropped to a low of 13ºF (-10ºC) one night, and there were a few days in a row where it didn't get above mid-20's F.

So anything that I hadn't brought in for the winter and was not cold-hardy was certainly done for, frozen and reduced to mush after temperatures got back above freezing. Imagine my surprise then when I discovered a few plants that revealed themselves to be much more cold-hardy than I thought!

***

Starting with what I thought was an annual: curry plant (Helichrysum italicum). Although I'm not entirely sure that it is still alive, it seems to be, with no signs of the discoloration that a frozen plant gets. 

In fact, it looks quite wonderful, especially up close:

Reading that this is a tender perennial, surviving only in zone 8 or maybe 7b, maybe it's time to bring this pot indoors?

Maybe the pot next to it too, which contains rosemary:

I would love to live where rosemary can grow into a flowering shrub as its one of my absolute favorite scents in the garden, but I have to settle for seeing how big I can grow it in a single season. Usually. I didn't expect it to survive 13ºF, but it looks like it's still okay. Another nice surprise!

Both of those plants were left outdoors by choice -- I knew I could easily replace them in the spring. This final one though was a complete mistake:

It's Sphaeralcea ambigua, or something similar. Possibly a hybrid. Received from Jenny at Rock Rose, whose central Texas garden is in quite a different climate from mine. I therefore thought that this plant was not up to surviving my zone 6 winters, and last year brought the pot indoors before the first freeze.

This year the pot was hidden in some grasses and I forgot all about it. I think the plant is okay, possibly because it's on the south side of the house, where things are probably a bit warmer. I suppose I'll bring the pot indoors the next time temps below 25ºF (-4ºC) are forecast.

So those are my happy surprises after our early cold weather. Any surprises in your garden yet?

.