I pulled the tree out of the ground yesterday, May 2014 and the root pruning I did in 2012 and 2013 paid off big time. I dug around the tree with a pick ax and it popped right out of the ground with a nice tight root ball consisting of many tiny roots. IâÂÂve also made the decision to train this tree into a formal upright shape so the dual trunks had to go. I was very nervous about this step but it had to be done: I cut the tree in half⦠And I think it looks great! The remaining trunk has nice taper as a result of cutting off the second large branch (itâÂÂs about 6â diameter at the base and 30â tall from the top of the soil). There are no mature branches left so it will take a long time before it evens out but I think the trunk has a good start. IâÂÂm looking for any advice on where to go from here. How do I shape it? When do I re-pot it? Should I cut the trunk shorter or is it a good height? Have I screwed up completely or is the right path?

Alice_ma6, 1) The bigger the better at least a gallon + - to make room for a good root system and also for tuber development. Some can get really large. 2) As many holes as possible. I take pails and drill holes in the sides near the bottom to plant my brugmansia. That way I can root prune easily and pull them out. Dahlia roots are not as large as brugmansia, so bottom holes will be okay. You still might have to dig deeply to get to the bottom of the pot. 3) Good soil with lots of nutrients. Also with good drainage. They don't like wet feet. 4) If your pot soil is good, you will need less fertilizer. I use Miracle Grow, but any balanced fertilizer is good. Personally, I don't have the space to do what you are recommending, so I clean well, dry slightly, dust with bulb dust, wrap, and store in cardboard box in my cold cellar which does not freeze. This has worked well for years.

Hi there I would recommed reading the thread named Saving a Potted Gift Rose as that is the type of mini that one buys at grocery stores. (there are usually 3 plants in a pot) It is not nessessary to plant them in the ground as you can keep them in pots but you need to plant it into a 14" or large pot if you have not already done so. Whether you plant the roses in the ground or repot them into bigger pots they may need winter protection. I do not live in your area so I would not be comfortable to give you advise. Do a search on the regular rose forun on winter protecton and you will find the advise you need. Remember, and rose is a rose whether it is a mini or a regular size rose. Roses like sun so where you want to plant them sould be ok. But as I said, you can always just repot into a bigger pot so you can keep it on your porch Good luck, it sounds like you have been doing a good job so far.

Well Campanula, last winter I stored all my pots in the garage(except for one hydrangea macrophylla 'blue heaven') which included mostly potted conifers, 2 chives, and 2 blueberries. I only watered them like once a month and the freeze/thaw cycle pretty much took care of it moisture wise. So the plants were consistently moist all winter, never absolutely dry. All of them survived with no dieback on any branch either. Now the hydrangea I decided to totally neglect because I didn't really care about it so I left it out on the middle of my patio and it somehow survived the wet winter as well as 0 degree fahrenheit temperature one night. It was in a miracle gro bad draining potting mix as well. It didn't rot! I was completely baffled. This is when I started thinking its either plants are more resilient and tougher than I worry or maybe it might've been just that that winter was just a once in a lifetime miracle where all my plants survived that horrible winter where normally it wouldn't have. Yes a lot of plants I collect are rare or at least not as common as the typical plants you see planted around a non-gardeners homes but I also do have some 'spare' plants that I grow for experimental purposes. Ex: A rubus phoenicolasius I dug up from the woods and divided is in a pot where it has been outside all year getting all the rain and so far it hasn't showed any signs of overwatering. This plant is one of my experimental plants. I also have sciadopitys verticillata in a pot I don't particularly care about which has been outside all year long in the excessive rain and this ones doing fine. I also have bunch of perennials where I don't treat with anxiety because they are so easily propagated I don't need to worry about complete loss. The paranoia I get with gardening is coming from all the stuff I read on the internet(including here) where they make things sound so bad but I don't really know if its true or not.