Overwintering perennials in containers

I would be very interested in knowing what perennials in containers you have successfully overwintered outdoors and how you went about it. Especially for those of us in northerly zones.

Janet:
I have buried the container and heavily mulched it with shredded leaves 8-10" of leaves.

Paul

I have many of my perennial vines in large containers, and I wrap the whole thing, pot, plant and all in pink house insulation and plastic, leaving the top third open for air exchange and water, and they do fine.

Kay
I never thought of doing that. How do you keep the insulation from making you itch? It sounds like it might be better than using leaves like I do.
Cala

Paul, which plants have you overwintered this way?

Hi all,I have sedum autumn joy,sedge and
corkscrew willow in my containers'They stay
put,no problems. In spring,I add herbs,coleus
other flowers for more interest. My coleus/herbs
come inside for winter.Sis

I just found this thread, but this is how I accidently overwintered 2 hostas.

I bought two hostas on sale last november because they had trees growing in the pots with them and I wanted the trees. I didn't want the hostas, so I attempted to kill them by cutting down and pulling out all the leaves, I was very mean.

I left them in my garage which is unheated but still warmer than outside. I did this so the trees could have their dormancy period and remain in the pots without the roots freezing.

I was very surprised this spring when the hostas sprouted! Shows what I know about perennials, huh? One is still in the container and I have planted the other one.

I will try and overwinter my perennials in the garage again this year, if I decide to grow any in a pot.

Maureen

We are considered to be in zone 8, but it was mild enough to be considered a zone 9 this winter. I wintered outdoors astilbe, hostas, cannas, Neon sedum, one lonely petunia (much to my surprise), bearded iris, daylilies, and several kinds of lilies. All of our shrubs also weathered the winter in containers. Dotti

I've overwintered several hostas, several clematises, astilbe, a climbing rose, a hanging carpet rose, ferns, lilies, a peony I planted last fall, parsley, chives, Marguerite daisy (that was a surprise this year - it came back in my herb pot). I put bubble wrap around the peony, but other than that, just bark mulch about 2-3" thick and that's it. I used WiltPruf on the climbing rose because it gets exposed to a lot of wind, and once I had to cover it for a week with burlap due to a late blizzard. I've put all the pots except the peony and climbing rose close to the wall of my apartment building (I have a balcony) for winter protection. I've learned the hard way how to protect my perennials over the winter in my 5b climate which is very dry.

Here's the west end yesterday.

Here's the east end from yesterday.

Revclaus, you had a lot harder time of it to save your plants over the winter than I did. Congratulations on being able to get so many thru the cold. I have a feeling that if my zone was colder I'd be reporting a whole lot fewer plant survivals. Dotti

Revclaus, what is the name of the climbing rose you have?

Thanks,
Barbara

Barbara, the rose is Social Climber, with beautiful pink blooms. Hope it does as well this year as it did in 2004!

My overwintering was due to laziness and forgetfulness. I overwinter hostas, a weeping pussywillow, bearded iris, boxwood (some don't make it), daylilies (you can even do this without a pot! Just can't kill em), and once a shefflera houseplant!

I killed 3 "Ami Pasquier" hydrangeas putting them in between the house and the garage where I thought they would be protected. Unfortunately, our gutter was leaking right over them and they filled up with water and froze for the entire winter. I couldn't rescue them because they were frozen to the ground.

Here's a link for some good overwintering info. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/513696/

REVCLAUS.... do your peony bloom in the pot? I had one in a pot for three years...never did a thing! the foilage kept getting bigger and bigger but never bloomed. Did yours?
Thanks, Sylvia

Sylvia, it hasn't bloomed yet, but it has three big buds on it, so I'm still waiting for them to open.

I should have let mine stay in the pot. someone told me it needed to be in the ground and to stop moving it, said can take years to bloom. I should have let it stay in the pot because the bush was getting bigger and bigger and looked really healthy. It even had tiny little buds in the center. Its now more than five years old and still in the ground and look like hell.
Sylvia

This message was edited May 26, 2005 10:43 PM

Everyone else may already know this, but it was only a few winters ago that I realized I was drowning my containers in icewater each winter. I had big square plastic containers which never flooded in summer, but when the ground froze, the water just sat there in the freeboard. I ended up sawing a slit at the top of one edge to let the water out in winter, and they've done much better. Last winter I successfully wintered Iris cristata Eco Bluebird, several Aubrieta, and two containers of shade perennials (white bleeding heart, Phlox divaricata, lily of the valley, and columbines.) In the summer, the slit can be blocked with a piece of slate if the water runs out too quickly.