Dear Mark and All,
Great to see you here! Zone 8-- I wish! Hypoxis hirsuta is indeed hardy
in zone 8, not to mention zone 6 and colder than that. It's native here
(should tell everyone else what you already know, here is in the hills of
Pennsylvania, one mountain range southeast of Penn State U), and its range
is north to Maine. It's too seldom seen here, but can have good sized
populations where it does occur. In Virginia you'll see it more often, in
smaller populations.
May I suggest that the leaves are dry because it is dormant? Pry apart
at the base, and you just might see some sign of life. If it got dried out,
the fact that it is sort of a bulb means that it can take it, though in the
three sites I know of here there is some seepage in the ground, and two
have a small streamlet nearby, and in Virginia I've seen it along large
creeks. Now, clarification of the above: went to one of the three sites
last summer, and someone had been having fun with his little backhoe. In
fact, he left it at the site. Another is on or adjacent to private property
someone didn't want me on years ago and I haven't been back. That leaves
one I can go to, but it's the best of the three. Norman Deno says my
Hypoxis hirsuta have larger flowers than others he's seen. Will ask other
Native Plant Soc members what populations they know of.
Best,
Don