I have lots of tall bearded iris planted on one side, the similar foliage colors with different foliage textures is nice, and the iris distract from the after-the-winter-pruned look of the Buddleia. I have some trumpet lilies behind it, which grow up tall and bloom before the Buddliea has gotten tall enough to obscure them, then the shrub helps hide the yellowing lily foliage later in the summer. - Steve

I have volunteer Oxalis and Strawberries, which I just leave alone. I wish the Oxalis was thicker and the Strawberries do not like being covered in the winter. This past mild winter seems to have really hit them hard, especially as last summer I was very late in getting the Roses uncovered but the Strawberries looked pretty good. This warm winter it seems everything under the cover, except the roses, and night crawles, looked like the worms went dirt tracking under there, took a real beating. I was rushed for time, trying to beat the rain, which was too bad as on a deep black surface like that, every weed that had survived stuck out like a zit, but I simply did not have time to dig them all out. As it is I failed and ended up digging the roses out of the black muck in the rain. The only tool that works if you do not want to ruin the roses is ones bare hands. The problem with having to cover the roaes is finding what companions tolerates that, that is not unwanted. I am not, repeat NOT, going to bury them again as workng in our black-gumbo is too much a pain in the buttocks in the spring. I put strings on them to find them but the strings either rotted or were so soaked in black mud, I could not find them. I actually think what ever the string was made of was candy for night crawlers as the few I found when pulled were no longer attached to anything and about half as long as they once were. I also think one is still buried but will just wait till a sprout pops up to locate it. The ones that did best were the ones so stiff that canes poppped up out of the dirt so they were easy to find, but up-righting them was not hard because I had to dig up the rose, but I had to dig a hole behind the rose to upright it. I have done this more than once before but this was the worst of the worst, in a year when it should have been very easy. The Oxalis comes from seed pods but I am worried the Straberries took a real hit. It took four years for them to cover one fourth of the rose bed.

Bev I did the same thing, put Lantana in the garage to keep it warm, then left the garage door up once when it was very cold. I don't know why but I put my plants on the end close to the garage door instead of at the back of the garage next to the house where it would be warmer. I'm going to try again this year. Heat rises so I assume they would be warmer if I put them up on a shelf instead of down close to the floor so I'm going to try that too. Monkeybelle - Your basement sounds like an ideal place to keep plants in the winter. I use my garage because my basement is too warm. Sometimes my garage gets below freezing though. I wish it was a little warmer. There are a lot of "annuals" that you could try wintering over. I've had mixed luck keeping Butterfly bushes in pots over winter but about 3 of 5 have survived outside in pots on my patio on the south side of my house. They may have gotten too dry rather than too cold, not sure.

As gardengal said conifers will not suffer because of wind. Outdoors I almost never worry about excessive rain except for succulents. All my conifers are in gritty mix and excessive rain is not a problem for them. Wind, in general, is good for the plants. It makes them stronger and stimulates them to produce roots to anchor themselves well. Having said that, it is more likely that a pot may tip over because of wind and and a recently transplanted plant may get uprooted. But the likelihood depends on various factors. A tall plant with broad leaves presents a larger wind resistance and may be affected. I would use a heavier clay/ceramic pot as a cache pot to prevent a tip over. To prevent uprooting I would temporarily use a stone/brick at the base of the plant. But I almost always tie the root ball to the pot with bonsai wires when repotting using bonsai wires. Another factor to consider is the weight of the soil mix. 511 is a lot lighter and a plant can easily lift out of it when it is freshly repotted. Gritty mix or similar is a lot heavier and it is not that easy for a plant to lift out of it. And also less likely to tip over.