I always thought that this delicate-looking, densely-growing, gold-leaved hedging plant wasn't hardy in New England, but then I saw it at a friend's garden in Stonington, even farther away from the mild ocean influences then I am.  Yes, it gets a bit of dieback each Winter, but it bounces right back in Spring. And she doesn't protect it at all either.


So, OK. I'm trying it in my sheltered Zone 7 Wannabe garden on the South of the house. Tall hedges to the East and West and South muffle the Winter wind, and the South exposure captures the height of the Summer sun and heat.  And one of my more tender Southern magnolias—Edith Bogue—is already thriving here.

So if I'm going to have this delicate Zone 7 beauty here in Hopkinton, the South Garden is the spot.


Hooray: The Stonington owner just gave me a branch that had rooted out in the soil all on its own. So it's in, and the experiment—Is it hardy here too, not just 8 miles West?—has begun.