Where do you live? Zone designations are a bit ambiguous.
I'm in Zone 8, Seattle. A lot of Texas is Zone 8. We share common cold in the winter. That's it. Soil, water, sun, heat, and lattitude are all different and it makes a difference what plants will be successful.
Mike

Oh I'm sorry...I live in Virginia in the Shenandoah mountain area. Fauquier county. Supposedly it's zone 6b...our elevation is around 1500 feet which isn't too high, but we do get snow sometimes when everyone else closer to DC gets freezing rain. Thanks for the help! Stephanie

And Mike I wouldn't even go that far (common winter cold)
Avg. Jan. high/lo in Dallas, a typical zn 8 TX locale, is 54F/34F to Seattle's 45/35F. Precip days are 7 for Dallas, 18 for Seattle. Record Jan. high is a whopping 93F! That's close to the yearly record high for Seattle. 2 very dissimilar climates! Dallas has over twice as many sunshine hours too.

Hi momsgarden,

Check the ARS list of favorite plants for your area at:

Proven Performers for Virginia and West Virginia.

They list some tender plants. Click on the Plants Descriptions Tabs. These tabs opens up charts that list the hardiness of all of the plants they recommend. For zone 6b I would recommend only considering the ones rated at -10F or colder. Note, that for each variety you can click on "More Information" to see a picture and description of the plant.

Hope this helps.