Just wanted to document this somewhere and ask a eucalyptus opinion.

Here in SE Olympia I had temps 6 - 8 degrees on 3 consecutive days during the week long cold snap. I had 2 very young eucs, coccifera and perriniana, and 2 established ones several years old, parvula and lacrimans (aka pauciflora pendula). The youngsters and parvula expired rapidly. The parvula was a major heartbreaker - approximately 30 feet tall, got big very rapidly after planting. Exquisite willowy tree, I highly recommend it for you folks in warmer areas. The lacrimans just now appears to be on the way out. It looked OK until 2 or 3 weeks ago. Overall, the coccifera doesn't seem as hardy as the other 3, as it sustained moderate damage the winter before.

So, I love eucs, and my question now is whether I can grow one here. Would neglecta be my best bet? I was at the farmers market a few weeks ago and the owner of Burnt Ridge in Onalaska said that some of his trees survived with damage, I think it may have been neglecta he was talking about.

I had a 2 year old Grevillea victoriae in a sheltered position that I ripped out yesterday - couldn't stand looking at it anymore, showing the same slow march to death like the lacrimans.

The other marginal species I love growing are salvias. I lost my greggiis, no real surprise. Despite being listed as zone 7, or even 6 for some varieties, they just don't like our winters, and I have very free draining soil. Will continue growing them though, even if treated as annuals. Too desirable to hummers and people not to have them. Darcyi died but was not well established, will try this gorgeous plant again this year. Leucantha died, reptans pulled through, Purple majesty pulled through but didn't come up until early June. A well established clump of Black and Blue mostly died but a few shoots are just now coming up and here we are at the end of June! I'm trying many new ones this year from seed, we'll see how it goes.

The good news is that the pineapple broom in a sunny exposed position pulled through fine and is blooming now in its third year.