You probably won't need to do any protection for the plants or boxes. The pansies will lay down when it gets too cold or they are snowed on and the hellebores will do similar. Both will perk back up as it warms during the day. If you are adding soil to the coco-mats for the plants to grow in, then that should provide enough insulation for them.

Hello eks6426, A lavender house! You are so lucky. My husband would never consider that for a house colour, but I think it would be great! You sure have a lot of window boxes. I only have 6 on my house, but here is what we did late last fall: After pulling the summer flowers, we cut red branches (I think it was a dogwood, but not sure) from beneath a powerline ( cleared every couple of years anyway, and we weren't trespassing because it's public access). We also cut boughs from white pines in the same place. The pines were small and would have been cut down anyway. Lastly, we stopped on the roadside and cut staghorn sumac branches with fruit. At home, we inserted the red branches upright (cut to preferred length) into the soil in the boxes and then inserted the pine boughs around the edges. The sumac was added as a final accent - kind of like a winter bouquet. Closer to Christmas we strung white mini-lights around the boughs in the windowboxes. I did water the soil once before hard freezing here, just to keep the boughs green. They lasted until spring, for the most part, when I pulled them all out. Sorry I didn't think to take a picture. You are in a similar zone as me, so this might work for you. I waited until late October, but only because I never got around to it until then. I'm going to try for earlier this year. Good luck with your painting. I hope you post pictures when you are done. Balsam

GGG -- great idea! I've googled Loropetalum Little Pixie and don't get anything. I was looking for growth habit and other details. Can you fill me in? And does anyone know where to get some Little Pixies? I didn't see any at my Pike yesterday. Bev -- I got some snaps 3 years ago and thought they would just last through the fall, but when I thought I should rip them out, they were perking up and then they bloomed again early spring. The Pike guy said they were probably reseeds, but it was happening on the original plants. I have gotten some volunteers, too, so they do re-seed. I'll let you all know if they continue to live this year. They're in containers in a shelterd area, so maybe that's why they've hung on. I smelled something fabulous yesterday at the nursery and it turned out to be stock. I've never grown that before, but it's beautiful and the right size. Would that be a good choice for an overwintering annual here?

When its time to pull the summer flowers in the fall, I plant pansies, cabbage, kale and faux pumpkins. After Thanksgiving, its time for the greens such as boxwood, cedar, fir branches etc. with giant sugar pine cones. That's what is in my window boxes now. Once it warms up and thaws in spring I pull the greens, clean out the window boxes and add summer flowers such as geraniums or super petunias. Fall Winter Summer