I can't tell you about Oca, I'm growing it this year for the first, and possibly only, time. So far, healthy plants but zip, zero, null on the tubers. I see what might be the beginning of tubers, now about the size of a grain of tapioca, but they'll never make it. It sounds like a killing freeze coming this weekend. I've got a few in pots, will throw into the greenhouse and see what they do. But, yacon I did last year. I dug the roots in Oct, pulled off the edible roots. The propagation roots really do look sort of like Jerusalem Artichokes, and cluster on the stems, whereas the edible roots look like white sweet potatos and grow out away from the stems. After I dug them last year, I let them sit for the afternoon in the sun and wind to dry them out, then put them in my basement near the dehumidifier on a tray for about 3 days to dry them more. Then, I put the roots into paper grocery sacks, folded down the tops, and stored them in my basement which is kept at about 60 degrees. They were hale and healthy in March, and starting to grow. I had 3 plants originally, divided them into 6 plants last year at planting time. From those 6 plants last year, I had enough sprouted eye pieces to yield 30 plants this year. I started mine in March under growlights in the basement, transferred out to the greenhouse in April, and outdoors in late May. The plants were almost a foot tall and very healthy when the went into th ground. I guess I could easily get enough roots to make 100 plants next year if I saved all of the propagation stock.

Thanks very much for the tips. I went out and gave the Foxgloves a closer inspection yesterday. I started cutting off all the dead stuff... lots of totally brown leaves and stems. But as I looked more closely I noticed something had been eating the leaves ... they looked almost "perforated". One of the plants was dead all the way to the ground, so i pulled it up and discarded it. But the other three have some (seemingly fresh) green growth near the bottom. I'm thinking the eaten leaves might be what killed off the other plant, and most of the remaining three. I'm not sure what it was, so after trimming the dead stuff, I sprayed the green leaves with some insecticide soap. Thanks all, for your feedback! p.s. I planned them in probably June or so, and they did flower nicely (actually were flowering when i planted them). When those blooms finished, i snipped them off, and they bloomed again later, in the late summer/early Fall. Hopefully they'll come back and do the same again this summer :)

If you intend to keep the maple in a container, the most important consideration is to protect the roots from severe cold. The small volume of soil in a container will freeze much more deeply than the ground and roots are generally less cold hardy than the wood. If it's possible to store the plant in a cool basement after leaf fall but before severe cold, this would be best. I think survival would be pretty doubtful in an unheated shed. Crimson Queen is quite hardy but Z4/5 doesn't seem realistic for outdoor planting, especially for a young specimen. Leaf filled protective structures can work, but unless the leaves remain dry they will lose their insulation value and invite fungal infection.

I'm not sure if they "need" it as much as they have a period of it. If I recall, the cold is still expected to show up so you may want to keep them indoors.