the best way.. is in a holding bed ... e.g. if you have a veggie patch .... just rip them out.. and throw the perennials in there ....

why does this have to be done???

if potting.. you will need a potting media.. soil does not work well in pots ....

do you have a shed or barn???

how about a few more facts ... and more specifically where you are ... for the most precise answers .... z5 covers a lot of diverse weather patterns ... other than winter min temp .... is total snow cover the usual???

and what is your native soil ....

if this is a building project.. will you be bringing in new topsoil at the end ....??? .. do you have yard space.. or minimal suburban lot????

ken

I have many dozens of winter sown perennials in gallon pots waiting to be put into their winter storage. I stack the plants in large storage bins, one pot atop the other. I wait until they go dormant, usually in early- mid-November, before bringing them inside my unheated garage. I stack the storage bins on top of each other. This will be the third year I've successfully over-wintered perennials this way. The plants consistently break dormancy in early spring and grow normally.

Another method that has been successful is putting pots up against my home's foundation and blanketing them with straw. Last winter they were also blanketed by 8 ft. of snow.

I've heard a rule of thumb for dividing perennials that it's best to divide spring bloomers in the fall and fall bloomers in the spring. It's probably a good idea to do a Google search for more detailed information on dividing specific perennials as each may present unique challenges.

Like Ken, I also question why they *have* to be be moved now - ? Are you doing some renovations or moving, something along those lines?

I having been over-wintering various potted plants (roses, shrubs, perennials) in the unheated garage for more than a decade, it is absolutely possible to do so. Unheated shed/storage unit will be fine, too. Most important thing to remember (well, actually two things): They need to be well-watered before going into storage, and once frozen they need to stay frozen until they are getting close to breaking dormancy.

All of those are pretty hardy plants and will do just fine over wintering in pots. I had a bunch of extra plants (daylilies, Heuchera, Lamium, Campanula, Hosta, the list goes on and on) last year that I simply potted up and put behind the shed until the next spring when I could sell or give them away. Sometimes they had snow cover and sometimes they did not. They seemed to do fine. Only things that had trouble with it was Veronica and Iris, both of which presumably did not like being slightly water logged in late winter thaws. A good potting mix would have admittedly been better, but I had so many that I didn't want to go spend a lot of $$ on more bagged potting soil. i just used regular garden soil with gravel/small rocks at the bottom for extra drainage.

My plants were on top of the ground and got no mulch or cover. If you want to play it on the safe side you could also find an empty spot in your garden to partially bury the plants IN the pots, up to the rim. I've done that before and it works well- just pull them up in the spring.

I think the only kinds of plants that would not to well over wintering in pots are those that are not fully hardy/a bit tender, or plants that really object to poorly draining or overly moist soil. I did find that water sometimes pooled up in the pots when the ground in them was frozen.
CMK

Hi..In response to some of your questions.. I have to move the plants, because I am getting rid of existing beds and making room for a greenhouse. I am reloacting the strawberry bed to another area and need to dig the plants.
I have about 30 plants (coneflowers,sedum etc) that i purchased for cheap at the end of season sales and have no where to plant them till next year.
We usually get a good dosing of snow here in Pittsburgh.

I was wondering if I put them in an area of the yard not used and covered them with pine bark mulch.
Rob

clump them all together.. and after FULLY DORMANT ... but before your pile of mulch freezes solid [been there did that.. lol] .. then cover them ...

ken

When I last moved, in the middle of winter, I took the plants I'd dug up and piled them in the most sheltered spots I could find and heaped whatever snow I could find on them, and there may have been a blanket or two as well. For the plants that were dearest to me, I put them in the detached, unheated garage. Again, a couple may have even gotten a blanket. The garage-kept ones did best.

These days, I commonly end up putting a few things I haven't gotten around to planting in the garage. I make sure to throw a few handfuls of snow on top of the pots, especially in late winter/early spring, to make sure they don't totally dry out. Seems to work well.

We overwinter our pots also. We put them in a protected area in the back yard and cover them lightly with shredded leaves with more around the outside of the pots. Remember the most susceptible part of the plant (in pots) is the roots during the winter.
Paws