Hi binky - Congratulations! A new greehouse is always fun. I have had a 14'X 20' unheated hoophouse in So. Minn near Rochester for going on three years now. Even in our cold cilmate I have lots of things winterover - such as spinch, kale, some lettuces - I plant them in early October. By the tailend of March I usually have all my cold hardy seeds planted in flats (broccoli, cabbages, and cauliflower, ect.). They do just fine. I don't, however, put tomatoes or peppers, etc. that I have seeded in my kitchen into the hoophouse until the 20th or so of April. Then I keep several layers of Remay handy to cover them up if the weather report say hard freeze. I also keep the ground beds wet because the soil is then darker and absorbs more heat during the day. So far I have yet to lose much of anything I have seeded. Good Luck!

I can really sympathize, Michele, and think you're wise to take those favorites before a buyer even sees the house. Unless you're up in the mountains of Virginia, you should be able to do this successfully. Up here in coastal NJ, USDA Zone 7, I have had no trouble overwintering potted perennials, shrubs and small trees in pots sunk into the ground, with a good few inches of shredded oak leaf mulch. I feel that leaving them in the pots causes less trauma than being torn out of the ground again in spring. If you cannot sink the pots before the ground freezes, then I would cluster them together and surround with straw bales then fill in between and over the pots with shredded leaf mulch. What you want to do is stabilize the soil temperature as much as possible to prevent repeated freezing and thawing of the soil and root systems. Despite unusually wild fluctuations in temperature this past winter, ranging from the 40's down to the teens, and vice versa, all of the plants overwintered in this manner made it through with no problems.

Yes, you can root cuttings to get varieties you don't have - hopefully you've corrected what was leading to rot or to you losing azaleas you already had? It's a little early for cuttings, semi-ripe wood may be easiest, June or July just as the current year's wood is starting to harden off. Here you go: Here is a link that might be useful: Hyatt - Rooting Cuttings

You should ALWAYS ask permission! What if you and a thousand other people decide to take cuttings of a particular plant at the restaurant, at the grocery, at the park, dentist's parking lot, Disney Worlld, on municipal property along the road? :-) If it's not yours, you should ask first. Check with your City or County municipal departments. Most have a landscaping division with a director or superintendent in charge. Ask for the manager at the grocery, or the owner of the business. Believe me, if the thought of snitching one or two cuttings has crossed your mind, it has occurred to plenty of others ahead of and behind you. Accumulatively, that constitutes property damage. Right? You simply have to ask; it's the right thing to do. You will either get permission right away or you might get asked to wait until they can take the cuttings for you or they will ask that you don't. Whatever happens, they will appreciate that you asked. I've asked and received permission to take cuttings and seeds from public parks, exotic nurseries, cemeteries, parking lots of businesses, and from the gardens of complete strangers who answered my knock on their doors.