Yes, certainly, I've got about 25 WS'n plants still in pots from the 3 previous winter-sowing years. This includes perennials, a few vines, a few grasses, and 2 small Dogwood trees. My Baptisia has been in pots for 3 years, potted up twice and are now in 1 gallon pots. It takes me a long time to figure out where to plant stuff sometimes. :/

One challenge is to keep the young plants alive over the winter in small pots. I usually group them closely, surround with bags of leaves and cover with a thick layer of leaves. Or bury the pots in the ground in a garden bed. I lose a few plants each winter, but most survive.

Also you can pot up seedlings and plant in fall. These were my Foxglove plants from last year which grew on in pots until getting them planted in September.
{{gwi:374718}}

I potted up the majority of my winter sown perennials last year because none of the garden beds were prepped and ready for them. Most are in gallon pots. I set around 50 pots in the ground and covered them with straw; others were allowed to go dormant and spent the winter either inside my unheated garage or on a patio table on my breezeway.

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'/dwarf fountain grass from winter sown seed
{{gwi:374719}}

{{gwi:374720}}

There's a winter sown Montauk daisy in a pot on this table
{{gwi:374721}}

This is that Montauk daisy:
{{gwi:212039}}

I do the same.

I always have some overwintering in gallon pots. Most do very well.

Thank you all for the replies and inspiring pictures. This is very helpful and encouraging to me. I think I will try it then, and play it by ear as to planting them in the fall or just overwintering them and planting them next spring.

I suppose when you think about it, isn't that how they do it at nurseries? Grow them in gallon pots and keep them there until they are big enough to sell?

Nurseries don't place small cuttings or seedlings into a gallon sized pot at first. Pots that are too large for a plant will hold too much moisture and the roots could rot, it's also inefficient and uses way too much potting mix. I pot my WS'n seedlings into 16 oz cups or small nursery pots for the first year of growth, then transplant them into progressively larger sized pots if I haven't gotten them into the ground.

Ahh, well, forget gallon size pots then. LOL* All of my seedlings are in cups at the moment so I'm safe. ;)

But that makes sense to just move them into larger pots as they grow larger. The only thing I can see at this point from what all have shared here that might be an issue is keeping them over winter. I think I'm going to play it by ear and see just how big they are by fall. I imagine things like hollyhocks would probably do better if planted in the ground over winter.

I pot up directly into gallon nursery pots to save myself the extra work of going from small 3" pot to progressively larger sizes as they grow. Winter sown plants have incredible root systems so gallon pots made more sense to me, not to mention I WS just under 500 milk jugs last year so I had thousands of perennial seedlings looking for homes. I gave hundreds away in gallon pots so they'd have a fighting chance at survival when planted out in someone else's garden.

I over-wintered lots of perennials inside my garage the past several years and haven't lost anything so far. They all go dormant so around Thanksgiving I start bringing them inside the garage for the winter. Once the weather begins to warm in the spring, they all push up new growth as if they'd just awakened from a long sleep.

Do you water them at all before you bring them in for the winter? That is something that has always confused me. Or when they go dormant do you not need to worry about water?

I've read on various forums that folks give them a drink every few weeks during the winter. I don't. I just figure they're dormant and if they aren't actively growing, the water just keeps the soil moist--the plants aren't absorbing it. I normally give them a little water as spring approaches so the soil is moist as they begin to break dormancy. I've brought lupine, hosta, lilies, hibiscus, gayfeather, foxglove, columbine, gentian, clematis, astilbe and lots of others through the winter in my uninsulated, unheated garage.

As with anything else, find what works best for you given your own unique situation/circumstances/climate. Experiment and keep notes/a diary of what works and what doesn't. I keep a garden diary from year to year which helps me get acquainted with the plants in my garden, what to expect from each and when.