Running out of garden space here and would like to start putting some lilies in large pots.
The garage in winter is heated to 50 degrees which from what I have read is not cool enough to over winter.
How about putting them in a recessed planter up against the house and cover with leaves, landscape cloth, plastic, a cardboard box inverted over it . . . any suggestions?
Zone 5 and colder Advice for Potting and Care over winter?
I use an outside covered stairwell to the basement. When the weather gets really really cold I'll threw old comforters or bedspreads over them, then just leave that insulation on them till spring (keeps the cold steady so they're not susceptible to heaving from warm and cold alternating). I've also used an old refrigerator.
I just thought of something; we have a very old boathouse that we only store our dock in; wonder if I could rig something up in there; bad thing about that is the steep steps to lug pots down.
You can see the top corner of it in the lower right hand side of this picture.
So I would have to haul them down 3 flights of stairs. Ugh!
The way the boat house looks to be partially underground makes me think it would be an excellent place to keep them. But, wow, that makes my back hurt just thinking of lugging them.
Yes, it is underground; maybe I can pot "a pot within a pot". Then I could leave the big pots up top and take the bit smaller ones down to the boat house.
Wow! I have never considered putting anything down there. We'll have to put a thermometer down there this winter and see what the temps do.
A recessed planter up against the house should be fine for all but Orientals. I'm thinking the boathouse would be good too.
If you don't have lilies already, the lilies Gemini is selling in his co-op are precooled, and if you get those for the spring you can just pot them up, no need to worry about the cooling for this winter, and that would give you time to see how cool the boathouse does get.
thanks, polly. how cold does it get where you are?
It used to get down to minus 20, but the last few years only down to minus 10. Last yearr they reclassified our zone to 6a from 5a. I've been potting lilies for sale for about 15 years. We do have quite a bit of snow cover, and I put the lilies in pots under the evergreens, no where near the house, so I'm thinking your house will warm them some.
That is very encouraging. I don't mind giving up a few lily bulbs to try; can always buy more.
Thanks
Try to get them where they are not going to get waterlogged, though, especially with melting snow in the spring. So maybe consider tipping the pots on their sides, and down in the dirt some.
You're welcome, and let us know how they do, please.
That's exactly what I would do, Twin Lakes, monitor with a thermometer(s) this winter. Unheated closed buildings are a crap shoot as to what temperatures do inside. Be sure you have a min/max theremometer(s). I think you will be surprised at how warm it gets inside in the late winter/early spring when the sun is intense and days are relatively long. It's also hard to know what kind of effect the ground will have too. May actually be too warm in the winter. 50F isn't cold enough at all, and the lilies will be growing.
Okay, now I looked at your photo. Although everything I said is good info, it's meant for a unattached, exposed building. Temps should be relatively stable through the winter for you, but I couldn't say what they might be.
That boathouse is made out of cement blocks; DH informed me that once they put our dock in there I may not be able to get to the back wall where the refrig is.
We are having a snowstorm right now but the ice we had before that has all those steps slippery; I don't want to try to make my way down there to take a look and slide down onto the lake. Might not be able to get back up. LOL
I am very excited that this might work.
Thanks