winter pot protection

For once I am thinking ahead. I have a few pots on the deck and although they are hardy I would like to give them a bit of help in case it gets really cold. Is it a case of wrapping the pots up in a couple of layers of bubble wrap and tying? things I have in mind are fuschias, hostas, have a clematis in a fairly smallish pot, rosemary, and some hops.

 

I don't bother with hostas, had the same ones in pots for about 10 years now, always leave them outside, no protection, and they always come back the next season.

 

Same here, and that's up in chilly Scotland! :D

I take in fuschias that aren't hardy, and if your clematis is in a very small pot, I'd either take it in, or put it in the ground where the roots will be better protected. Rosemary is tough, but again, anything in a small pot is vulnerable if it's a hard winter.

 

I don't think we are quite so far north as you are dendrobium so I wonder that you say rosemary is tough - or are there different kinds? I always take mine in for the winter. D-i-l left her's outside in the ground and lost it.

 

I've never needed to take rosemary in. like with lavender, it just stays in the ground and gets bigger and bigger.... I haven't always lived up here, but M-in-L has done for the last 48 years, and has always left hers outside in the ground, with no protection of any sort! Having said that, it does tend to be near a wall, not in a particulalry exposed place... I've never really thought ffurther though - I really ought to look up what the herbal experts say..... Will report back when I've done that! :D

 

Well, I've had a brief look around the internet, and the most specific details are on this one...
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Lamiaceae/Rosmarinus_officinalis.html
where they give hardiness as down to -10 degrees c

Other sites just say hardy - although I found one that said half-hardy. They all mention a sheltered spot, though, like a wall...

 

If you dont mind me butting in, KG I dont know what part of Germany you live in , but the cold can be much more intense there than in the UK.
Even though dendy is further north, being an island means the winters are a bit milder, whereas in central Europe the temps can drop really low with long continuous frost.

 

I have always left mine out and never lot it and its not in a shelterd place.

 

Plants can't read so they are not aware of how experts say they should behave

As well as significant variations in climate in general between Scotland and Germany, the climatic variation around a single garden or for that matter a country can be quite pronounced.

My cousin and her husband were staying with us last week and on their way back to Lancashire visited a garden in the NE of England. There were some oleanders in the garden and the guide stated that the garden was just about the northern limit for the plant. My cousin took great delight in saying that just two days earlier they had seen had seen two blooming in the Tay valley :D

Getting back to Rosemary : We've two plants in pots and they are about 5 years old and live outside all year round. In that period we've had no periods of prolonged heavy frost though. If we do look like getting a long period of frost in future I'll probably reach for the bubble wrap or move pots into the GH.

Lest anyone north of Hadrian's wall starts thinking about cultivating oleander outside, two of ours are in pots that are moved under cover in winter and another one is planted in the garden and gets wrapped. (I didn't wrap well enough last winter and it lost a few leaves due to getting chilled)

 

Re Pots..Just purchased a couple of large new ones, got chatting to the old boy stacking them I asked were they frost proof? He then went on to tell me no pots are, but I must be sure to stand them on wood to protect them and they would never shatter it was the extreme cold that was the problem when they are left on patio slabs or concrete. Useful info I thought.

 

sure is!! :D
I must admit, I always have my containers on pot-feet, or spare bricks, or something like that, but more for drainage than anything else...

 

That's really good information, I did put them on pot feet last winter and that helped, must admit to having taken them off the feet at the moment but will get them back out soon.

 

Thanks for all the info and I am now wondering if I should chance leaving my rosemary outside. It might work as I could put it up against a SW wall, near where it is standing now. Also have some bubble on hand, just in case.

My son and d-i-l were given a beautiful glazed pot and told that although it was frost proof, to stand it on a piece of wood. We also use bricks to stand pots on in the summer but like you dendrobium, just for drainage and to prevent bugs from crawling in.

pete, I live in Oldenburg, it is in the north, not too far from the sea. We do get some wicked winds in the winter. I swear that they do not come from the sea but from deepest Siberia!

 

What would you say is a normal winter overnight low temp, Kedi?

 

Lazy-Gardiner. I would be inclined to put all the pots right by the house wall. A centrally heated house acts like a big storage radiator and always gives out a little bit of heat. Also the eaves will keep them a bit drier - winter wet can be as big a problem as cold.