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Container Gardening

Can you winter plants in containers outside?

meyermike_1micha

16 years ago

I was wondering. I have alot of outdoor plants that would normally grow in the ground in pots. Such as, evergreen trees, weeping cherrie tree, some hardy winter cactus, even blue berry bushes. The reason being, I can stick them in full sun on my cement walkway all summer long. But when I winter them in these pots...What is the best way? Will they die if not bureid in the ground?

I did bury most under a pile of leaves and in the shade behind my garage, so the sun wouldn't keep warming them up till spring. I wonder if they will survive? What are your suggestions and does anyone else do this?

Thanks alot .

Mike

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Comments (3)

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
Burying the containers, or setting them directly on the soil and mulching heavily is a really good way to over-winter, especially since you are keeping them out of the sun. I think this way of protecting the plants is preferable to over-wintering in an unheated garage or out-building. When over-wintering by mulching, your biggest concerns are the roots drying out completely and/or rodents/deer damage. The drying out worries are pretty much eliminated if you bury the entire container, though.

Plants will be almost as cold tolerant as their counterparts in the ground when you bury the containers, and mulched containers only a little less hardy than those buried.

Al
jodik_gw
16 years ago
I group all of my pots together in between two of my raised beds, then mulch them in... so far, so good. I'm hoping everybody survived this past winter, but I won't know for certain until it's time to move the mulch and bring the pots out into the open.

There are several methods for wintering over potted plants outdoors... I think the way you describe doing yours is a good one... I've also banked in plants by digging a shallow ditch, laying the pots on their sides in the ditch, and then covering the pots over with soil and mulch, leaving the plants sticking up on an angle out of the ditch. You can bury pots directly in the garden, up to their rims, and then just mulch over as you would any other garden plant...

I'm sure there must be more methods of wintering over container plants... but I opted for the quick method of grouping and mulching this past season, due mostly to the fact that I was up to my eyeballs in bulbs that needed planting and other autumn garden chores!
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I overwinter plants hardy to zone 6 (same zone I am in) in pots, using chopped-up leaves as mulch. Pots are sitting directly on ground, I only put a layer no more than 1-2" on top of soil, but more around the pot itself. Also surrounded by a 'cage' made of chicken wire to make sure the leaves don't get blown away. Grouping pots also helps, leaving some space between pots filled with leaves too. Most important, I think, is to make sure there is good drainage. If water sits in the container, the roots may rot. I don't think more than that would be needed unless you try to overwinter plant rated for lower zone than yours - like the fig tree: friend of mine built a wire cage around his fig slightly taller than tree (after pruning so it's not so wide); wrapping this cage with burlap and filling it completely with leaves (straw is good too), covering top of the tree with few inches of it too. I read (maybe here on GW?) that you could build enclosure and have christmas lights inside (not led) and they would warm-up inside sufficiently...and here is a link to thread using fluorescent lights in styrofoam enclosure: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/farnorth/msg1211132530111.html Rina
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We can argue this point back and forth, but the sensible approach is to make sure water can drain, because once it's in there, it's going to want to run downhill, not jump over the pot rim. It's not a question of what you CAN do, or what you can get away with; rather, what's likely to be best for the plant, and there is no question that pots with drain holes are far less likely to present you with issues related to the roots. ..... and there is no way to flush salts from containers w/o drain holes. From the top, the plants are a variegated pilea mini jade (Portulacaria) potpourri on a rock geranium snapdragon coleus sedum house leek (hen/chicks) impatiens (repens) yes it is more well-pinched coleus Al
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Unfortunately, that width is probably going to limit you :-) The elevated nature of any above ground container exposes it to much colder temperatures than a plant would experience in the ground. Especially the roots, which are far more vulnerable to cold damage than the top growth with even very hardy plants. But the larger the soil mass around them, the greater the insulating factor, so with a large container in a moderately cold zone you can often get away with overwintering plants that would likely not survive in a smaller container. Pretty much any tree or shrub you may choose will easily produce roots that fill up that 10" width, resulting in a root system that will very likely come into contact with the planter walls and therefore be exposed to excessively cold air temperatures. And root damage (resulting in plant death) can occur at temperatures as mild as the mid 20's, depending on species. And you are looking at the possibility of below zero air temps in zone 6 :-(( You might be able to risk it with the selection of some hardy dwarf conifers but they tend to be expensive to use in what is essentially a hardiness experiment at best. I wouldn't recommend any flowering shrub or tree except perhaps something like alpine currant, as the root system will simply get too large too fast. Unless you are inclined to toss money away on this experiment, I'd stick to seasonal plants. You can always stick in cut willow stems or redtwig dogwood stems together with cut conifer greens and hollies if you want some winter interest.
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Comments (3)
I don't recommend wrapping in this area. The wet material will stick to the canes, which encourages the growth of a fungal disease, canker. Seil takes her pots, moves them next to her house, and surrounds them with bags of leaves. If you can't snitch bags of leaves in NYC, then maybe bags of old pillows or packing peanuts may help.
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gee_oh_nyc
16 years ago
I grow a lot of perennials in big 5 gallon buckets and usually I group them together like jodik. But since mine are mostly patio plantings I get the bunches as close to foundation walls as I can. I've had things come back well so far.
Peace
George

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