I am very glad to read
@Zoia's post above. As you may guess, Walter Kennedy did not do well for me here in zone 8b. I bought two plants in the spring 2021 and started out with eight fans, which I planted in a clump in a good spot in a new bed. Since then the plant rapidly dwindled and developed rust. It never bloomed. I potted it up, hoping to baby it along, but it continued to dwindle. By the time I sent it to Zoia in September of 2022, hoping to give it a chance, there was only one fan left (according to my notes), and it was tiny. I was really disappointed with Walter Kennedy, but it seems to be one of those plants that prefers a different climate. I see from the reviews above that it also struggled in very cold zones, so maybe Massachusetts is the sweet spot. I hope so.
This picture was taken in February of 2022 when there were four fans left.
