Cold hardy is the term, I think (smile).

These plants are all hardy to zone 7. My Florida Anise always droops in the cold morning air and then refreshes itself when it warms up. I have had my anise for several years here in North Georgia. According to Monrovia's site, Aucuba is hardy to 10 degrees (zone 7). Pieris will be fine also.

It's painful to watch them droop, but they'll be just fine.

Thank you so much for your prompt response. I'm a bit dyslexic, doesn't affect reading in context anyway, just spelling (in a big way!) Thank you for being patient and not thinking I'm just ignorant - well at least not saying so. Some of us have very real learning disabilities (wish that would occur to folks when they complain about "ignorant spellers." It usually doesn't!
I'd give anything if there was a spell-check on this site! That would help so very much! Well in this case, it might not have helped, but usually it does. It's hard for me. Real hard!
Happy Holidays,
Michele

Michelle, I certainly didn't mean to offend you in any way. But as I remind my teenage children often, it's hard to search for things on the web if you aren't using the right term. And knowing that the term is spelled "hardy" helps if you want to search for something like "is aucuba hardy in zone 7?". I love to search for things with sentences (the search engine usually throws out the common words like "is" and "in").

So, please forgive me if I came across as anything but helpful, that was my only intent.

Hope it warms up soon, but it looks like we are destined to go down to 17 one night here ... that sounds serious!

Here is a link that might be useful: Search example

Michelle, lots of people confuse 'hearty' with 'hardy'. After all, they sound alike. If you hadn't seen it in writing, how would you know? I corrected someone in another forum just the other day.

This is very much an educational forum....we gently correct each other's spelling of plant names and terminology all the time. Don't take it as an uninvited correction (after all, how annoying is THAT!!!) but an educational opportunity.

I'd hate to see you hesitate about coming in here again. We're all learning things, each and every day.

Hi Michele
You probably have spell check on your computer. Some programs permit spell check of on-line writable text, others are only for off line composition, files and email, for example. In the case of the word "hearty", which is correctly spelled, spell check would not have picked that up, since it does not check syntax. I have spell check, Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and a Thesarus on my tool bar and all are useless, when dealing with Technical language and Latinized plant names.
GW is a forum for learning about PLANTS(at least the ones I read are) and as long as someone understands what you intend to convey, who cares about words and spelling. As long as profanity is avoided, you are welcome here! The use of profanity will energize the iVillage gendarmes, that will permanently banish you.
Learn to enjoy (or at least tolerate), the sub-freezing
temperatures, because somewhere in your garden there are plants that really need that for longterm survival. Rejoice with them!
Rb

Oh, I wasn't the least bit offended at all. Just embarassed. But I do have a spelling learning disability and it is a constant annoyance. It is actually a form of dyslexia, and most people just assume people who can't spell are uneducated. Not necessarily so. I have a master's degree and believe me this learning disability dogged me bad through school, especially graduate school.

It's an annoyance, and I feel naked without that spell check.

Thanks for caring, and I love the garden web. You all are enornously helpful, just please overlook the spelling errors. I thought the person who corrected me was especially sensitive, and I do want the correction. I feel like I need to apologize. Some folks get upset if words are spelled incorrectly. Thanks! Michele