Kathy, I bury the pots in the ground or bring into my garage for the winter. I expect you will get more responses if you post this in the discussion area rather than the conversations part of the forum.

This wouldn't interest the OP, since her plant is in a plastic pot, but I thought I'd chime in since others are talking about clay pots. I overwinter a lot of plants in clay pots in a breezy garage. I'm usually not that interested in keeping the plants, but I put the pots in there to protect from freezing when wet. Many years, several of the plants survive, and that's just a bonus - it easily gets as cold in the garage as outdoors, since the doors don't close very tightly and there's no insulation. Most terra cotta can freeze with no problem as long as the soil isn't too wet; it's the expansion of the water in the soil that causes cracks. Water that's been absorbed into the clay walls of the pot can also cause flaking and chipping. I keep the plants and the pots quite dry, watering 2 or 3 times when the weather's expected to remain above freezing for a few days.

if I put them in there the roots will freeze killing the plants because thats what happened to my strawberries (not my chives though lol). So if I enclosed the opening to the beds maybe even stuff leaves under them (we have a bounty of those) would they make it through the winter? ==>> i am confused.. zone appropriate plants.. will NOT care if the ground freezes .. period your prior failure.. most likely.. was winter water management in a frozen pot ... the SBerries roots rotted off .. pots should be put in full shade .. never winter sun on a small pot ... else the pot might thaw in feb.. not good ... and then once frozen.. laid on their sides.. so NO WATER accumulates in frozen media.. roots need air.. water on frozen media makes ice cubes ... like you dont know that.. lol .. once frozen solid.. they could be staked on pyramid style and cover with a tarp .. but not one that will trap heat ..... to avoid excessive winter wind.. which will desiccate media like chicken in the freezer ... and they should be left as such.. until the ground starts to thaw in spring.. not too early.. the key is.. GET THEM DORMANT AND MAINTAIN DORMANCY ... and manage water properly ... ken ps: little pots thaw fast.. during these few day warm spells int eh great white north ... by stacking them into a giant mass... they will insulate themselves .... a big gob of soil.. takes a month to thaw.. compared to a quart plant ...

Thanks for adding your words of advice shmooey. I used the storage bins as an added layer of protection but made certain the pots & soil were completely dry before putting the tops on. There was some mold on the straw I used when I opened them this spring but all the plants were fine, including a large pot of bottle gentian a friend of mine gave me. I REALLY didn't want to lose that one--they're not easy to come by. The ornamental grasses, lilies, coreopsis, baptisia and a few others came through the winter with flying colors. It wasn't our coldest winter on record but there were a few times the temp got down to 10-12 degrees. This year I bought stainless steel shelves and will arrange my little wintersown pot jungle neatly once they go dormant and use the storage bins for other things. The garage sits square on the compass with the front facing due east. The rear window gets a little weak winter sun but the other two windows are on the north side so nothing more than daylight comes through those. At the rate I'm going I won't have as many to winter over inside as last year. I plant a few each day with an eye on the ones I think will take the longest to establish themselves in these hot, dry conditions.