So warm.. in Wi?? Where.. :) Both previous posters have advised you well.. yet in the end it depends on soil temps and what each plant will stand. I have a bed on the southside of the house.. my 'looksees & too danged tender for here' plants [S bed]. I use a few for specific characters.. sometimes if I feel the effort worth a potential payoff. So.. each late fall I fill white garbage bags with leaves and cover those plants after the ground gets hard. This prevents too much heating via sunlight and refracted heat off the house.. and holds ground temps up when nites get very cold. The snowcover to date has prevented real cold penetration into the ground. Crown temps in other areas around the yard were 30F under the snow. Now after the melt in this S bed the ground is bare save the bags. If we get real cold temps for an extended time.. then the danger index comes up... especially sans sunlight to rewarm that area each day. Using filled bags does make for some at times mold growth under them.. nothing I've seen to bother with. They can be removed and reset easily... don't hold the water as mulch does. Wood chips drain well though. IMO your only risk loosing plants is those of very tender genetics.. if their growing now your most likely fine.. given good drainage. Only real cold ground temps could kill them now & for the most part we're by that now. I recorded crown depth temps of 2F this yr on one shoveled area. Under the snow that day crown depth was 29F... these reading in central Wisconsin. Another temp observation: winter last I checked a lawn area I had shoveled off.. the area receiving sunlight was 19F.. the shaded area was 5F... these readings on a very cold day.

Mid March to early April. Outdoors after chance of last frost. They like warm temps and warm soil. Do you plant in garden or in pots?

Hi Oakley - Several experts, have already chimed in & posted reassurances & advices, that I have learned & still learning from, in over the few years I have been reading & inquiring, in this truly great forums. Since you wish to know as well, what you might expect from your newly planted ES over the years. I planted 2 (2-gal) pots in '06, moved 3 times before presenting themselves as rewarding as the pics I'm posting. In my zone, like Alisande's ES & gg148's clarifications, my ES can be influenced dramatically by what 'Ma Nature' doles us. This past Winter was one of our worst one, killing even very established trees & shrubs ... Spring was absolutely crazy, 2 wks of heavy rains followed immediately by 2 weeks of sun/steamy heat of 100s (enough to steam cook many barely lushing/blooming perennials)! That said, both ES still budded & blossoms were huge, but significantly less than, what you'll see in the link. To date, a few more cluster buds are showing! However both bushes have grown tremendously, despite dying to the ground ... like Alisande's - not protected in Winter any longer, as they are now older (I did in their first season-using cardboard method). Best wishes to you & welcome to our fold!!! Â;) Here is a link that might be useful: 2 ESs in 2008

rjinga Yea no problem, i'll take some more photos when i get home. I kinda just started with one, and then thought oh mabye i would look better with another one next to it. So i added a second and then thought mabye it would look cooler with a 3rd!, you get the idea.... lolzz I'm pretty happy with it, but it does take alot of Mel's mix, so it can get alittle expensive. Also the mix keeps sinking on the upper levels so you go keep adding to it if you want it flush. Whats nice about it is that it kinda divides up the box for ya and it make spacing alot easier. One tip is to make the mix in a neighboring box thats empty and then shovel it into the pyramid box.