Zen, I didn't even know this was coir, haha. I was looking for ProMix and he said this was better and bam -- Id heard of it so I bought it. But honestly, I'm not against coconut coir; one of my favorite soils is by Gardner and Bloome, based wholly on coir. Some of my older pots are 5-1-1 based on that soil and I don't have any issues. Really it's such a small part of 5-1-1, I could probably use cotton balls and it'd work. But yes, generally, I like peat in 5-1-1 indoors because it seems to dry quicker than coir. Outdoors, it buys me an extra day when necessary, it seems. I've run out anyway and now have more Promix HP again. All is well again. Drew, I see what you're saying. Perhaps it does work with compost, but containers in and of themselves are kind of unnatural, too, no? Organic, in terms of not using harmful pesticides, is important to me, but if my sansevieria or columbine happen to grow in non-soil medium and are fed nutrients via my hand, I'm okay with that, too. I have mycorrhizae in the soil with Promix, and as you can see, I throw lots of stuff in the soil, haha. Josh, I must have missed this 55* stuff. Total oversight. I'm in Stockton and I doubt we went below 55 though I did wake up to 58 one day last week. This weekend, it's back in the 90s. I guess as a rule I will leave the organic stuff out. I really don't fertilize a lot, and just wanted to boost the soil a bit. DFish, I guess it's possible that pot just isn't draining well. I think I'll drill more holes in it before I attempt the pot again with new soil. Thank you!

Thanks for the advice Dave. I've been leaving the lids open for a couple of hours at a time. While the white stuff hasn't disappeared, I think it might be lessening but happily the seeds have actually started to germinate and the seedlings are beginning to poke out :-) I guess they didn't get too grossed out. Amna

If it's in a fully enclosed porch, that helps. If it's warmer in there during the day, that helps. But it can also help if you get yourself some bubble wrap and wrap the pot a few times. It's kind of the easiest and fastest ways to get a little extra insulation on a pot in the porch if you can't do more serious stuff. If the pot is small enough to fit in a cooler, that works well too- think of the styrofoam caps folks sometimes use on rose bushes to overwinter. If you get box food delivery service that has insulation in the box, that insulation works well too. Yes, you should water. But not a lot. You don't want the dirt to go bone dry, but you don't want it wet either. The plants are dormant and so don't really need water themselves, but the dirt still should be a bit moist. And pots seem to want to stay damp longer when it's cold out so you might not need to water much at all depending.

"In the window boxes the purple heliotrope used to have very full blooms. There is also an apricot verbena that is practically non-existent now. The alyssum is also more seedy and less full than before. In the hanging container, you see the purple supertunia doing well, but the ?lobularia? in front has practically all gone to seed and looks awful. Then the ground container is bad. There are very few flowers on the white plant, and the yellows are mostly seedy. It just looks all tired and worn out now." Your heliotrope is leggy and not blooming well because it needs to be pinched back and deadheaded to bloom well. The alyssum looks typical of alyssum at this time of year, unless it has been cut back for new growth after it's first full bloom and successive ones after that. I will cut mine back at least twice during the season so that it it doesn't get leggy and seedy, then after it's third full bloom let it go so that I can collect seeds for next year. Your apricot verbena is doing poorly and may or may not be on it's last legs because you "gave it too much love." From past experience and calling several local nurseries including Russell's in Wayland, I was given the following info on verbena. 1. They need to be deadheaded or they quit blooming, You need to cut the blooms off the stem as the blooms finish. 2. Fertilize once in spring only 3. use well draining soil in a pot or in the ground. 4. If using miracle grow potting mix, use only the regular kind, not the one with moisture retention and use 1 part miracle grow to 4 parts of unfertilized potting mix. 5. Plant where the plant will get the most sun, at least 8-10 hours of sun, if possible 6. Water only when the plant is dry. Over feeding, over watering, not dead heading will kill the plant, allow powdery mildew to take hold and destroy the plant. All the above explains why my neighbors didn't survive last summers deluges of rain for 2 months. "In the hanging container, you see the purple supertunia doing well, but the ?lobularia? in front has practically all gone to seed and looks awful" supertunias do well in all weather, even cool damp and deluges of rain that we had last summer. lobularia is a cool weather plant that will do well in spring till the temps heat up and the humid air arrives. It will probably pick up again and look well in the fall when the temps cool down again. "Then the ground container is bad. There are very few flowers on the white plant, and the yellows are mostly seedy. It just looks all tired and worn out now." Try cutting back the white plant and the yellow one and see if that brings on new growth and then new blooms. you didn't say what those flowers where. In the window box, try cutting back on the watering to see if it will help the verbena. Fran