Yes to all your questions. Plant in as large a pot that you can handle. I use a tree pot which is as large or larger than a half barrel. I move it with a two wheeled dolly. J&P ships a large plastic bag with a wad of moss with their tree roses, or they did at one time. It's been years since I ordered a tree rose. Wet the moss and place it in the center of the canes. Place the bag over the canes and wet moss. I loosely secured the open bottom of the bag with a long twist tie. This creates a little greenhouse with high humidity and keeps the canes and leaf buds moist. When the buds begin to leaf you can remove the twist tie and allow the humidity to vent. After another day or two, remove the bag but by then it's probably blown away. I've successfully forced a number of tree roses and slow to break dormancy bushes this way. A thick wet sponge will work as well as the moss. Keep an eye on the moss and wet it as necessary.

Donna, I have never overwintered the smaller brownish cordylines, just buy new each year. I have overwintered for years a large maroon/burgandy one, looks like a red corn plant. I treat it as a houseplant. I have a south facing door wall with an additional long low east facing window on the side wall in my kitchen eating area where I overwinter most tropicals. I also use my garage. I have some deep metal shelving on the inside wall where I put large pots, after cutting plants back (or letting them dieback) in the fall. The plants in the garage I water only a couple of times a winter (or none). The ones inside the house also get very little watering, just enough to keep them from drying out completely, since they are mostly semi-dormant, just sitting there. Some plants like clivia miniata get put in a dark corner of the kitchen or hidden behind other plants & need no watering at all from late fall until about April. The cordyline actually grows some indoors so it gets a bit more water. BTW, I grow the salvia B&B and the elephant ears in separate pots, because the ears need lots of water & the salvias don't. I just place the pots next to each other. Thanks also for the compliments on the pictures - just remember pictures allow you to show just the pretty stuff - not the failures or the messes! LOL Janice, Most of my pots are plastic or fiberglass or tufa. I own some big ceramic pots that I use inside for some of the overwintering plants, but I seldom bring them outside - too easy to break them, they are also heavy, & they won't overwinter outside in zone 5. I also put lots of my outdoor pots on wheeled trays. The really big ones are too heavy for trays and have to be dragged around on a dolly. I also use some old stacked patio stones to stagger the heights of some of my patio pots. Most all this stuff was collected over a period of time & I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive decent looking sturdy pots - the bigger the better. Keep in mind also that once things get going, you just can't see much of the pot anyway. As to what I plant in pots - just about everything. I have two large Alberta Spruces, started small & moved up over the years until they are now in 20+ inch pots & outgrowing those. I also have 2 Green Velvet boxwoods in pots that have been that way for the last 4 years. I have a bunch of mini evergreens & deciduous shrubs in low tufa containers. I have one planter with Hens & Chicks that stays outside all winter. I have also (not so much anymore) raised numerous deciduous shrubs in pots, including roses & wiegelas, and a nice collection of mini hostas & a few daylilies, along with cuttings and new starts of various perennials. Some of these need winter protection outside from hay, leaves or bubblewrap. Most eventually (usually sooner than later) go out into the yard. Many of my pots have tender perennials or tropicals in them, that go into the garage or the kitchen for winter. I generally only overwinter things like elephant ears, hibiscus, fuschias, brugmansias for only 3 or 4 years. By that time they are tired & so am I, & the plants are usually just too big and heavy even with lots of cutting back. I've not had much luck with lifting and storing dahlias or other tubers, so I often just keep them going (barely) in the kitchen or the woody stuff in the garage. I also direct seed some easy plants like zinnias, coresopsis, calendula, & poppies into small pots for fillers here and there. I often start larger things like canna tubers or castor bean inside the house in late March and then plant them into my outdoor pots. I also like to do leaf lettuces of all sorts and a few other veggies in patio pots. Most of the stuff though is bought either locally (I have several good nurseries near me where I always seem to find something new to try) or through some place like Select Seeds. SS sells plants as well as seeds and has a nice selection of plants with scent. I love their scented geraniums & that's where I got my original jasmine nicotianas. I never disturb my pots until I can see the nics coming up! I also usually buy a tropical vine or two (or three) from them as well. I have several 3 foot tall black metal tuteurs that I use in large pots for the vines & to give height to my plantins. Upside down hanging tomatoes (bought locally) do well in pots hanging from the Arbor! Oh, I forgot to mention that I have a collection of odd houseplants, mostly euphorbias & cactus, with a few bulbous palms & aralias, plus some large leafed things, that go outside for the summer starting in late May until late August-early September. (I've been known to frost/freeze a few of these over the years). The only thing I leave inside are my orchids & the occasional violet. I love taking them all out - it's bringing them in that's a pain - try moving a five foot cactus sometime! Anyway, have fun with your container growing - I am hereby enabling you to try anything in a pot. I sure have. :~)).

My husband moved to Grove a few months before I did, and I was just kind of going back and forth. During the hottest part of that summer, a skunk was under the house, and tore his way into the vent pipes that carry the air conditioned air. It was that heavy foil type stuff so he could make a hole in it. He did. He couldn't get back out and died there. My DH worked for the Boy Schouts and his office was at home, so he not only lived here, he worked here. He opened all the windows and I think turned on 6 ceiling fans until someone could come get the skunk out. He said it was horrible. Needless to say, after we bought the house, I was quick to put a door on the crawl space and make sure that another animal could not get under the house. Then we had the heating and air folks come and replace all that vent system with something durable. That summer, a neighbor who is now deceased, trapped 28 skunks. He trapped them, threw a blanket over the trap and with the trap on his trailer, backed it into the water. He said none of them could swim, especially with that cage on their back. I know there are still a few around because I occasionally smell them. About a half mile from my house, I watched one come out of a culvert pipe and cross the road in daylight. Those scare me. My tolerance level is low for skunks, possums, amardillos, Japanese Beetles, and Squash bugs. (And especially humans who steal) LOL

If you ever do a lavender rose bed like I did, I would be happy to tell you which failed, which thrived and which has the best fragrance. I have been working on this lavender bed 4 years now. The opposite side of the arch is all peaches and apricots. This year my big project is a new hot room - all yellows, reds, bright oranges - a mix of roses and perennials. Purple petunias line the fronts. I am terrible at design though so I wind up moving plants around for years until I get it right. That hot room also has 15 Cannas, elephant ears and bananas in huge pots. Yes, I know. We had 90 mile an hour winds yesterday, snow today and hail a week ago. Of course it has been high 60's for several months before that. What the heck???