Just saw this article and am so glad I stumbled on to it! I spent three years and countless dollars planting and watching things disappear after moving from 5b to 9b. I was crazed with astonishment at how nearly every plant bought locally would not thrive. I had to "hit the wall" before I realized I needed to do lots of research on my own and choose very carefully what to bring into the garden. And, like your own experience, to watch for which things were really going to make it. I thought I was alone in that, until today ... so very nice to hear that others have found the "blank canvas" of a new climate's garden to be as challenging, and rewarding, to fill in.
