I won it from Plant Me Green, and they were under the assumption that I was in zone 6a, since that is what most zone maps show. My general area varies a huge amount though, as far as the zone goes, thanks to the large change in altitude. We live in a river canyon, and we're only 1,750 feet above sea level. The river is at 800 feet, and it goes uphill from our house, to about 3,500 feet. They were just trying to give me the best chance of it surviving, and I've got no complaints at all about the company. They were very nice, and very helpful, but I didn't want to bother them with all of my questions, so I asked here instead.
I'd assume that if I really was in zone 6, that the plant would die off, and it never would achieve its full potential, so bringing it in during winter would be no big deal. It will have a much better chance though, in my warmer zone. It isn't much warmer, but warmer enough that it matters. My location also makes a big difference. Our property is south facing, so what snow we get usually melts very quickly. The same can't be said, just down the road, where it is more forested. The snow doesn't melt there for most of the winter. So, location is everything here!
We moved here from Utah two years ago, where we were in zone 5a. I'd never consider planting anything outside in October there, because I had zero success when I tried. Our elevation there was 4,600 feet, and we usually had about 5 feet of of snow on the ground during winter. So, I'm still stuck in that frame of mind, since we've only been here a short time, and I'm still figuring things out, as to what will do okay and what won't. All of my real gardening experience is from Utah, and I've only been gardening about 13 years, since my husband retired from the Navy. I have a lot to learn, and now I have to relearn most of what I had learned previously, because of how much warmer it is here!
