I’m here in the Pac NW too. I began buying/ pot planting fruit trees about 7 years ago, using the pot up method. I usually buy 2 new fruit trees each year. Switched over to Smart-pots / Air Pots 3 seasons ago for my new purchases. The air pots/smart pots have worked out 150% better than regular/old school potting. The rooting/root ball issue doesn’t occur in air pots. Also, it self prunes and keeps my tree sizes in check. I can’t be trying to bring in certain trees in the winter if they have grow to 8‘ , 10’ , plus. If you are ok with full size maturity than fine. But in my situation, I want to be able to harvest fruit easily (low hanging) and basic maintenance is easier done with a smaller dwarf tree that has been kept in check. Btw, my dwarf fuji & dwarf honeycrisp apple trees were switched over to air pots and they fit under the roof overhang. By keeping them in the air pots and by pruning the main stem during dormancy period, I keep them under 8’ and they can get protected from too much rain and frost through the winter. My dwarf meyer lemon tree is only in a 3 gallon smart pot. I can easily move it into my house in late fall. If I had gone the pot up method, I would’ve eventually had to move a pretty heavy pot into the house. I bought a Leprechaun Dwarf Nectarine tree 3 years ago that is frost tolerant so that sits outside all year, here in the Pac NW. It sits in a 20 liter air pot which I think is slightly larger than a Home Depot orange bucket. Since it self prunes/roots, I‘ve never had to do anything. I do basic branch pruning after harvest and I get boatloads of nectarines that I usually give away half of what I harvest away. When it comes to Dwarf Fruit trees, IMHO, air pots/smart pots are the only way to go. Now with my vegetables garden, other than my kratky portion of my plants, the rest I do use the root pouches too and they work great. IMHO, since veggies are seasonal and I grow a lot, the root pouches are a perfect way to go, but for fruit trees since most people aren’t buying a ton of trees, spend a few bucks for a few air pots / smart pots, i think is the better route to go. Best of luck

Yardmom, I was in a rush out the door when I saw your post, and forgot to comment on your darling mini/Minnie Mouse hosta arrangement...so cute!!!! HH...are there any hostas that You DON'T have? Large and small, the list seems endless. You even have troughs, dishes and strawberry pots filled with lovely specimens, eh?. (sorry, couldn't resist) What else are you holding back? I think I'm seeing moss, stones, bark? and what is to the left of the bark(?) at the top of the dish? My computer died a year ago (getting a replacement soon) DH brings his work laptop home at night, so I'll have to wait for an answer(hopefully). Thanks again, big time, to yardmon and hh for showing me what you do with your minis. I'm fighting back the temptation to order even more. I do have a birthday coming up in 2 weeks. DH...hint hint..do you ever read gardenweb???? ~Bunnycat

It's been a really mild winter here too and many of my roses still have some green leaves on them. The potted ones are mostly covered with leaves so I can't see too much of them but the tips on several have leaves still. In some ways i'm concerned too. The problem is if the warmer temps trigger new growth and then the temps really drop and that growth is killed off the rose only has so much stored energy to rebound. If it happens more than once or twice the rose may not have enough energy stored to be able to come back again a third or fourth time. Go ahead and plant those minis this spring. They'll winter great in the ground. And there's no problem with planting them when they're actively growing. Make sure you make the holes a littler bigger than the size of the pots and just transplant the whole root ball into the ground. That way you won't be disturbing the roots and they'll hardly even notice you moved them. I planted 30 some roses of all kinds from pots last July when it was already pretty hot and they all settled in great. The only ones that suffered any transplant shock were the ones I dug out of the ground and moved. But even all of those made it in the end.

In Zone 5 you most likely won't be able to leave them in 8" pots on the patio over winter but your cold dark basement sounds like it might be usable. Keep them slightly moist but not overly wet so the roots won't dry out. Covering them with black plastic will keep them in the dark until you want them to start to put on new growth closer to spring time. However, the best way to over-winter them would be to sink the pots into the ground and cover with a leaf mulch. Then next spring once the danger of frost is past, you can lift the pots and bring them back to the patio to enjoy close up. BTW...8" is a bit small for a mini and you might want to consider moving them to a larger pot, 10" - 12" would do well for them. I wouldn't prune them back once the cold weather sets in. You can prune or cut them back in the spring once you see if any of the canes have died over winter or are diseased or damaged. You should notice that they most likely will bloom well into November given the type of care you are giving them. Bringing minis inside is asking for lots of problems as minis really aren't house plants. Spider Mites love indoor minis and will eat your plants alive (pun intended)! Good Luck with your babies! Hope this is helpful. Meg