How to over-winter potted outdoor plants

How to over-winter the following outdoor potted plants:
Lavender
Mint - Peppermint
Sage - Purple
Parsley - Italian

This is my first year and I have brought them inside.
I would like to take them back outside next Spring.

Good to bring them inside, they would all freeze in your area. Keep them all in the brightest spot possible, perhaps a south facing window.
Lavender and Sage: Water thoroughly when you do water, then let them go fairly dry between watering. Keep pinching to keep them dense. You can take cuttings to increase your plants.
Mint: Water thoroughly and keep it somewhat wetter. This is one of the very few plants that I would keep in a deep tray and allow a little water to stand in the tray. Pinching to keep it dense may also trigger growth from below the soil surface. If you want more plants divide these underground stems in the spring.
Parsley: Tends to be biennial. Will bolt to seed as the days lengthen. I would harvest it all and dry it, not try to overwinter it. However, somewhere in between in the watering. Not as wet as mint, not as dry as sage. Harvest all you want. When you start to see the flowering stem (usually looks thicker than the leaves) you can try pinching it out. Might extend the harvest a little longer.

Fopr the Herbs that are Annuals, I always cut them once indoors, then wash, pat dry with kitchen tissue, and either freeze them in small bunches in plastic bags, OR really fine chop them up and place them into ice-cube moulds, when required, just remove a couple of the herb cubes and add to the dish your cooking,
Because you cut most of the stems off the herbs, they may if given light on a window, re-shoot again, cant see them regrowing till next spring due to their growing method (annuals germinate, grow, flower, set seed all in one short season) so they might regrow BUT they might be tough to the fingers and have lost there true flavour.
the other plants like the Lavender etc that are Perennials, can also grow on window sill, don't leave them behing closed drapes though as it will be too cold, dont set beside a heating / cooling system and away from hot radiators etc, water just enough to keep the plant alive, prune off all the old flower stems and for the lavender, NEVER cut into the brown wood on the stems as the plants dont regrow from there, just snip off the green stems to just above the brown, leave an inch or two of green, by early spring IF you see new shoots, give a little extra water and when weather is warming up, place the plant outside in day time and bring back inside for a week or more to let the plant adapt to the outdoors again.
The following year you can take cuttings from the bits you prune off after flowering,
Snip off some GREEN stems that have NOT flowered, remove the green 2 inches from the bottom of the stem and stick in a pot of soil with added grit or horticultural sand, best results are when planted around the outsides of the pot not in the middle, you should get about 5-6 cuttings per pot. Remember they don't like rich soil, they like well drained soil. After a few weeks the roots should have formed, separate when large enough to support themselves and pot up into individual pot's
Best way to increase your plants and fun to do.
Best regards.
WeeNel.

Thanks for this advise!

One more question - I have a pot of petunia that I have brought inside that I would like to save and over winter for next spring & summer, what is the advise for these?

They still have some blooms on them, some green leaves and some leaves have turned to brown.

Petunias are technically a perennial, so they may live, but they grow so fast when you get a little new plant in the spring that very few people try to overwinter them.

I would trim them back as needed, try to keep it relatively compact.
Keep it somewhat drier rather than too wet.
Look it over VERY carefully for pests. There is a caterpillar that can defoliate it, as well as eating flowers and buds.
As bright a location as possible. They like it warm, too.

Ummm, parsley is a 2yr plant- its culinary abilities are best the first year, so most folks dont try to overwinter them, they get bitter yr 2,

Well it is April, and I have only had success with the Mint.
The Sage, Lavender and Parsley do not look as they will come for the Spring/Summer.

And the Mint - Success!

Well, at least one made it!

The mint probably would have wintered over in the ground successfully in your area. Do you have a yard it could be planted in?
As well, there are types of lavender that winter over successfully even here in zone 3 - in your much warmer zone, you'd have access to more hardy ones.
Salvia officinalis occasionally winters over here as well, so, again, in your zone, it may not be unreasonable to expect it to winter over. Just some info that might be helpful for this growing season...

I would never plant mint into the garden UNLESS you want it to take over.
Mint increases by runner roots that really do travel feet away from the parent plants growing position
where it will show up stronger than ever. If you want to plant the mint into the garden, dig the hole and put the whole pot into the soil this helps contain the roots a little,, remove any parts that grow over the top of pot as they root very fast.
The Sage and the Lavender could both be treated the same, they both have woody type stems / branches, when pruning off the previous years growth, never cut into the brown woody parts as the plants dont really regrow from there, Best time to prune these is AFTER flowering, remove old spent flowers ONLY, thats all the grey green part, dont remove the foliage, I would do a second tidy up of these 2 plants early spring IF required. Either re-pot into new soil (soil must be well draining so add some fine grit add horticultural sand, buy both from garden store in small bags.
Things like Parsley I would start afresh each year as they really loose flavour and grows tougher, most gardeners sew fresh seeds either late winter indoors or early spring. as well as most Annual herbs, depending how much you use these herbs etc, you can grow half doz of each and where required, cut from a different plant each time, end of season either dry them or freeze them in small bags / ice cube trays and use straight from freeser in winter.
Hope this helps you a little.
Good luck.
WeeNel.

Thanks for the feedback!

re: Mint, yes I would NOT plant it in the garden, had a problem with that a few years ago, the mint took over the place! Had to work hard to get rid of it, which is precisely why I used the pot method.

As for the Sage, Lavender and Parsley, I may give it a break this year. Thanks I didn't know that Parsley should be started/grown fresh each year. May give the Parsley a try again.

hburry, you still have time to start the Lavender, Sage and maybe even the Parsley, start them from seeds, and with the exception of the Parsley, the others can be brought inside or at least under cover for winter IF given light and frost free place to store. by doing so, you will learn more about what plants require and seeds are not so expensive that if you fail, you have more seeds to re-try.
Good luck and happy gardening.
WeeNel.