Do any of you find that this plant is perennial here in MI?
Dusty Miller
It is not for me here in Bad Axe.
That's what I thought! A book I have lists it as a perennial.
Probably a tender perennial.
When I lived downstate it would come back every year for me. I haven't tried to grow it up here. I'm betting if I planted right next to my border bricks (that hold heat from the sun) and mulched it in the fall with some chopped up leaves, it would come back. There is one way to find out!
Everyone's yard had little micro-climate changes depending on how much sun or how much protection they get........like right up next to the foundation etc. I overwintered a zone 7 clump of pampas grass for three winters before it bit the dust. I had a huge 430 pound rock in front of it. It was planted right in the corner of the cement driveway and cement sidewalk. I cut it down in the fall and put a zone up bag around it and laid rocks over that. :) I did everything but go out there and put an electric blanket on it. We had mild El-Nino winters those years too. Alas, one winter it got down to five below zero and that was it. Dead as a nit come spring.
My mom's Dusty Millers have come back the last 4 years. She has them planted next to the house in a large brick planter. I am guessing they stay just warm enough to survive.
I lost all mine in Traverse city this year
Mine come back yearly....look mighty pitiful in the spring....I whack it down and it comes again!
I had one or two survive for a second year.
Same thing happened with snapdragons back when I had a cutting garden. And the one or two plants which survived were GIANTS, really robust!
I think maybe it happened with some Salvia farinacea too.
Generally I wait til mid or late spring to pull out "dead" annuals, and I look carefully for new sprouts before pulling.
Sometimes it's kind of interesting to know which of our "annuals" are actually tender perennials. Even among the true annuals, some can tolerate light frost and thus can be planted before the frost-free date. It's also helpful to know which are extremely tender if you do mixed plantings in containers. One year I made up a big pot of Victoria Blue salvia plus heliotrope for the patio. The heliotrope blackened at the first light frost, ruining the look of the container, even tho good ole Vicky Blue was willing to be beautiful a while longer. After that, I regard heliotrope as a stand-alone.
I have a true perennial white heliotrope. A friend gave it to me years ago. I dug it up and moved it up here and it has multiplied. It gets pretty tall and smells so wonderful. It's one of my favorite flowers.
I have had fancy kale bloom 2yrs in a row here
Here's my Weeping Willow bed - looks sparse but will fill in.
And here's the bog garden. The hemlock garden is done escept for 4 azaleas that are not ready yet. They are orange and yellow.
I've had a lot of fun with the gardens but I'm getting tired. LOL! Maybe it will rain all dasy tomorrow and I won't feel the urge to go play in the dir.... oops....soil.
http://adayinmygarden.blogspot.com/