For anyone else that is still dealing with this issue, I may have found a solution. If you have noticed your room smells "dusty" it may actually be a piece of furniture. We purchased a couple of brand new end tables off of Amazon several months ago and set them up in the room. About a month or two later we started smelling that dusty odor everyone is describing. We spent several months trying to figure out where the smell was coming from in the room. We even thought it may have been mold so we had it checked by a professional. Turns out it was the tables all along! They appear to have been dipped in some very strong chemicals during the manufacturing process that don't go away over time. If anything the smell gets stronger over time. The thing is that they were the last thing we would think we would smell since they were BRAND NEW. Anyway, hopes this helps anyone else that may stumble onto this thread.

Dusty miller, Jacobaea maritima (syn. Senecio cineraria) is a half hardy perennial subshrub. Depending on variety - and there are many - it can survive winters as low as zone 4. I wouldn't cut back until late winter/early spring as severely cold temps can damage or kill off any foliage. And mulching can't hurt, although I would use a light, airy mulch like pine straw......nothing heavy or that will compact down and hold moisture over the crown. As with most Mediterranean plants, good drainage and no excess moisture will increase chances of survival. There really should be NO arguments about what is an 'annual' or a 'perennial'. Those terms have very specific botanical definitions unrelated to cold hardiness. An annual is a plant that completes its life cycle (from seed germination through growth, flowering and then seed development) in a single growing season. A perennial is any plant that has a life span longer than 2 years, although the term is most often used in association with herbaceous (die back to the ground) perennials. A perennial does not magically become an annual just because it is being grown in a location or climate that prevents overwintering........it is just a tender or non hardy perennial!! Some gardeners and catalogs refer to them as 'temperennials' :-) I believe a lot of the confusion is how these plants are marketed and sold. A great many non-hardy or tender perennials are sold labeled as "annuals" or "annual bedding plants" as that is how they are used in colder winter location gardens. They only last a single growing season and are unable to overwinter in the cold, so they are therefore treated as annuals even though in more temperate or milder winter locations they may return each year very reliably. btw, plants that produce bulbs, tubers, corms, etc. - eg. cannas and elephant ears - are always perennials. Some are just not very cold tolerant or winter hardy in many locations.

I was quite surprised but they are survivors. I bought some dusty Miller seed to start in the greenhouse this year to plant in the rock garden in the back and I am hopeful they will be perennials too. The thing that surprised me the most about these is not just that they survived, but that they didn't die back to the roots - they continued to grow all winter! They looked a bit monsterous in early spring but after cutting them back in spring they gave a lovely performance all growing season. Hopefully they will continue to do so for years to come!! I don't like the way they look when they flower though so I always cut that back. Also I didn't have any luck with the cutting, but I'd never done cuttings before so I didn't really know what I was doing.

I need help! these are so fragile and so difficult to remove/replace. is there anything i can use to make it less of a dist magnet? i once read that rubbing with a dryer sheet would help but when i tried, i broke it of course.