well for annuals they are pretty much supposed to die and come back from their seeds, which of coruse we winter sow. for perrenials they should be ardy enough after the first year to survive through the roots. its they arent hardy in your area then measures would probably have to be taken. such as digging them out and potting them. i've heard that mulching can prevent the ground from freezing, thus leaving the roots relatively safe. i've also seen people take special garden tarps to cover up the ground and prevent them from freezing. im no pro or anything, i usually just replant everything each year. and whatever comes back in spring, comes back. whatever doesnt then oh well i probably ws'd more of them anyway. lol

I meant, what do you do with the young perennials that you have in containers that you never put in the ground. The whole container freezes.

I stick the whole container in the ground and cover with mulch.

Not the best photo but behind our home I have a 'holding bed'. In the photo you can see some Echinaceas from 2007 and other perennials in front of the Dahlias. They were placed there, pot and all late in 2007 and this photo is from August 2008. It's good to always have an area where you can plant such things as Dahlias and when removing them in the fall you can place some wsn babies which haven't gone in the gardens. Then cover them up with leaves and let them sleep over the winter.

{{gwi:343886}}

Well, they got placed in the pot ghetto, like all the other plants in pots. In the past, I have placed the pots on the north side of the garage, right up against the foundation, which is naturally warmer. Then heeled them in with leaves, bags of mulch, etc. However I am steadily removing shrubbery and items away from the house foundation (these encourage moisture and rodents, both very bad for houses).

This year, I moved the pot ghetto to the east side of the house, under some shrubbery, about 3 feet out from the house foundation. Then I packed bags of leaves on 3 sides of the pot ghetto, for insulation and shelter from the prevailing winter winds, and spread leaves on top of the pots.

I have also buried pots in the ground, as Tiffy has done above.

I've had nearly 100% success overwintering plants in pots so far but have never overwintered such tiny plants before, and in such small pots. We'll see if they make it!

I'm a strictly container gardener, with no ground at all. I just mulch my pots and push them up against the wall of the building. I have perennials that are going on their 7th year out there - no problems. If they are young plants, in small pots, I'll bunch them up close together, maybe corraling them all in a cardboard box or such. So far, have been pretty successful.

PV

Ms Minna, do you have extended or just brief freezes there?
If we are going to have wet snow, I leave things be and only protect (which I've surely lost this year but its always worth a try) my big pot of annual geranium. If it's a dry hard freeze in the forecast indicating temps into the teens for several days, I move pots with young perennials into the carport, sometimes put them on my front porch that is protected on two sides and covered, cover plants racks with plastic (Home Depot clear industrial drum liners work great), or drape things pushed close together with old tablecloths, beach towels and hope the wind doesn't take those....anything to give them a few degrees protection. I had a flat of noble fir seedlings under my car one year :)

I had 4x5" pots in racks, many, frozen solid in my carport this year for more than 72 hours (weird winter) and I don't think I've lost any....newly rooting rose and shrub cuttings, many first year perennials. The perennials are frozen back to the crowns in their pots, but I don't have any reason to think dead - are you sure yours are goners?

What are they and how cold did it get?

I have pots of rooted cuttings that I left outside. Some of them do okay like forsythia. The ones that are cold tender, I put them in my hoophouse or bring them into the basement. I've got blue spires salvia in the basement now. It rooted too late to put it outside. One 4' shop light keeps them alive, but not enough light to make them grow to any size. In the spring, I'll move them outside into the shade and slowly move them out to the sunny bed.

I hope with wintersowing that all my containers are empty by June 1.

Mine go into the ground no matter what. I know this doesn't answer your question, but it's important to me that everything is planted out.

I have 2 small beds near the entrance to the house I usually reserve for annuals. Any pernnials I don't plop around and run when I pull the annuals, I put the overwintering perennials in there, in their pots or plant.
It;s quick and I can remeber what I have cause they are right at the door

Just be careful covering them up! I mulched mine with leaves last winter. I even put lattice over it all to hold the leaves down and then the voles(fieldmice)spent all winter eating my potted plants!! They ate 2/3 of my inventory! I hate those little b@st@rds!! I don't think I covered them up too early, but maybe so... This year I just grouped them together in a raised bed but didn't cover them up-we'll see what happens.
-B

I put mine in a window well with leaves piled on top of them.

Deanna

One word for you Brandy...CAT, lol

I make a very hard decision late summer to just plunk em, or compost them (very hard...even with a plant...it's like a PET with me).
Anyway, I know they won't survive in the containers, so they get plunked. I garden cottage style, so there's no real order to my spaces...if it doesn't look good where I plunked it, then next fall it'll get moved with everything else I hated that year (an annual event at my place).