You could WS directly into your plastic pots - or - you could create the recycled "greenhouses" that most everyone uses and sow your seeds in them. Then you can just pick and choose from your sprouts and pot them where you want them. I garden exclusively in pots and have been WSing for 6 years now. I've got a bunch of terra cotta pots, but generally don't use them for much of anything; since you're probably going to need more pots (!), you might consider getting some of those foam pots that look like clay. They're quite pretty, lightweight (which is good when you take a notion to start moving things around), and they take the winter weather very well. As for achieving a cottagey feel, using pots, you can get any look your heart desires. One of my favorite shots from last year - all pots; don't know if it qualifies as cottagey, but I really liked the look: And from a few years ago - again all pots: I have a feeling Winter Sowing will work quite well for you! PV

I agree with Stevelau on this one. The larger the plant you start with the faster it will spread and the faster it will put up large canes. Small plants take forever to spread and mature out. Plus you'll be able to dig off of them sooner. To spread your grove even farther. 3 years versus 5 for the smaller ones. A good 6-9 ft tall plant with 3 or more canes will spread 5-10 ft in one year. A small pot with 2-3 canes 3 or 4 ft tall may only spread 3-4 ft if you're lucky. The bigger the plant the more energy it has. A small plant usually means small rhizomes. Small rhizomes put out small canes. Large rhizomes put out large canes. The bigger the rhizome the more energy it has stored inside. Always choose the bigger plant. Hope this helps. I've been growing for 10 years and have 29 different species. Atrovaginata is very hardy. I just got mine about a month ago. It was getting ready to be sized up to a $65 dollar pot I got it for $45 its about 8 ft tall with about 6 canes in it. The grove it came from had some 3 inch diameter canes that were amazing I can't wait. It was a steal. Brad Salmon at Needmore Bamboo really took care of me and gave me some great deals. And the plants were all very healthy. I got six new species and they are all in the ground and looking great. Good Luck

Right up my alley, WW! Thanks for asking MoccasinLanding that question since I am now looking at smaller hosta to add to my hosta family due to lack of space, more importantly lack of easterly exposure which works best here for me in Barrie, ON. Here's a pic of 4 of my 8 true miniatures...the others are in the ground and thriving because they have proved to be made "of sterner stuff" haha I will lug it (via wheelbarrow) to the garage for the winter. I was very lucky this past winter but I will not push my luck again! Moccasins, I am glad to have found you have so many of these diminutive Little jewels. If you don't mind, can you be my 'go to' source? You have some great solutions in terms of using space, especially going vertical as in your etagere scenario. I found some great tips online last year re home made irrigation and use something very similar to Mocc's solution...where my more water-needy plants are located, I place a jug with holes on bottom to slowly drip water where it is needed....about an hour or so later ( depending how dry area is ) I collect it for use another time. I have half a dozen of these bottles/jugs on hand and store them in the kitty litter plastic containers...also use kitty containers for collecting rain water. They make good pails for just about anything....Mocc's likely been doing this for years. Anyway, I am getting carried away, sorry...awfully glad you wrote to Mocc, Ww. I love my mini's...Cameo is such a little beauty with so many different colours but aren't they all? Question for Moccasins.....what do you find boosts their vigour more than anything else in terms of root production? Do you feed them anything? I don't fertilize at all and maybe I should...maybe they wouldn't be as appetizing to slugs??? FYI: this pot of mine receives sunlight from sunrise to about 1:30 in the aftn and so far they are doing great because I can turn the pot if one of the minis may be getting too much sun...silver threads and golden needles has good colour so far. Please, if you see anything after you view the pic, let me know. Some of them have been potted up this spring except for Cracker Crumbs and Otome Ki which are doing great in the ground, and Holy Mouse Ears and Blue Mouse Ears are great too in the ground but..... Btw: in the pot are: Limey Lisa (with cute flower scape), Cherish, Cameo and Silver Threads and Golden Needles. But...after reading your comments, I know I will lift them and pot them up too as I have a matching big pot like this one in the pic. These minis need to be up close to appreciate and growing them nearer to eye level makes it easier to spot any trouble early on, wouldn't you agree? moccasins, if its not asking too much, could you list your minis? I will look them up online if I don't see them in your pics. Thanks a bunch! Jo.

Stew pot is actually closer, Linda. The style we currently call "Dutch oven" is a flat-bottomed kettle with a lid added. And is, of course, with its heavy, heat-holding design, ideal for stewing. Kettles originally were round bottomed (and some had legs), designed primarily to be hung over an open fire; either from a tripod or a crane. They did not have lids. There was a point, measured in gallons, where a kettle became a cauldren, but I misremember it right now. Thirteen comes to mind, but don't take that to the bank. Dutch ovens, of course, had three legs and a deeply recessed lid so you could put coals both under and on top, to provide even, dry heat. They were used on the hearth, not in the firebox. In the first quarter of the 19th century, "portable" cast iron stoves became popular. Initially kettles were still used by removing an eye and setting the pot right in the hole, over the open fire. Eventually they began modifying the pieces, flattening the bottom and adding a domed lid. A chicken fryer has a somewhat different configuration; being relatively wide for it's height (for stability), and with sidewalls that slope more sharply than those of a skillet. Chicken fryers, too, have domed lids; many of which are of the self-basting type. Now, if you really want to know about hearth trivia, ask me nicely and I'll tell you were the term "hob nobbing" comes from.