Thank you for this post! I only keep one of my ponds going thru the winter, and I'm running out of room on the bottom (so many nice lilies to pick from!). This year I'm gonna leave the iris and pickeral hanging on the sides, they'll be ice covered from December to at least March, but probably not frozen solid. What do I do with my watercress? It's bare root in the skippy now, but the skippy will soon get drained. Float it or sink it in the pond? S (One word of caution - not all plants are what they are said to be. So if you're not SURE it's hardy and you REALLY are attached to it, better to err on the side of caution.)

I'm glad you asked this bhmlurker, as I am new to the area and also living in an apartment with container plants on my patio. I have some herbs, but several are perennial shrubs or trees to-be, like my beach plum and lacecap hydrangea. When should these be brought inside? Is it at, or before, first frost? Or can I cover them for awhile until a freeze occurs? Could I delay this by mulching them in their pots? The reason I am trying to delay this is that I have seen ants on the deck, and am trying not to bring them indoors. Thanks in advance for any help - I am new to the Huntsville area from the northeast - feel free to email me directly with any good advice. Thanks, Kim (drippy)

Thank you for the holiday wishes and same to you, GarnerGarden! I think that the peppermint would have been happier, outside. The indoor air is probably too dry for it and my peppermint, and several other mints, do fine outdoors through the winter. Obviously, it's in a pot so that puts the roots more at risk to the cold. Perhaps, you could sink it, pot and all, in a hole outdoors. The rosemary needs winter protection. Some of the lavender does but I don't really know. Don't know about the proper care of the lemon, either ... Parsley is a biennial. I sow parsley seed every year for fresh plants. I think it will, more or less, be okay on its own. When I was a kid, we had a little parsley patch that always had some nice leaves. I think only some of the plants were flowering each year and that there were several so that they were always at different stages of development. About the rosemary, it would probably need to go dormant, or nearly so. I would lose as many as half my rosemary plants trying to keep them in a too warm basement over winter. I finally began keeping them on the floor of an unheated greenhouse and covering the plants when they would be going much below freezing. hope some of this helps a little. Steve

Thank you. I ordered it. Can I just ask you one question- I watched a video that I think you might have posted (on another thread) on preparing plants for fridge for winter and in the video the man chops the pitchers off then puts the plant right into baggies and right into fridge. I've also read on here people recommending to keep the plants moist (hence the fungicide?) while in the fridge. What do you recommend, taking out of pots and taking soil off and right into baggy, or taking soil off and then wrapping moist paper towel around roots and then into baggy? Thank you in advance I really appreciate it