Erigeron karvinskianus (mexican fleabane) winter care?

wild edges

What do people do with these over winter? Last year I had one in a pot which spent the winter in the unheated greenhouse and survived 'The Beast' intact. This year though I've planted a couple out and I'm contemplating digging them up and bringing them in for the winter. They're flowering through the frosts we've had so far and temps have been down to -3c so do I need to bother? Do they transplant well or would I be wasting my time? So far none have self seeded here so I'm not relying on them coming back via seed.

madpenguin

They seem to self seed all over the place so I will leave my mature plants where they are.

JennyJ

I leave mine alone too.  They've always survived, so far (but they seed around as well so I'm quite relaxed about them).

hogweed

Gone never to return after a Scottish winter. I will dig mine up and put in the greenhouse if I remember. 

Papi Jo

I leave mine alone outside in all seasons, it survives... and spreads. Lovely flowers from April to December or even January. Hates to have wet cold feet, though.

wild edges

hogweed said:

Gone never to return after a Scottish winter. I will dig mine up and put in the greenhouse if I remember. 

I think the climate here is similar to Scotland because of the elevation. Maybe I should see if I can harvest some seed actually, there might still be some on there. It might just be easier to raise new plants for next year.

Jemula

My experience is that they don't generally transplant well from the ground. I've found they like to seed themselves into all the driest cracks and crevices and tend to die out in heavy soil. A good way to increase your stock if they're not self-seeding around the garden is to put a couple of small pots of well drained compost nearby and new plants will then pop up in the pots which can be planted out (spring or summer of course).

raisingirl

What Papi Jo said - takes any amount of cold, including cold wind, but won't put up with wet feet. It stays green and flowering sporadically right through midwinter then disappears for a few months. They are late coming back to life in Spring, so it's possible to think they've gone when they haven't. I have clay soil but they grow on the steep bits that drain quickly.

wild edges

It's in a small bed at the top of my dry stone wall so it's well drained there. Maybe I'll refresh the grit around it and hope for the best. I've got some big 5L water bottles I could cut into cloches actually if the winter turns very wet. I found a few seed heads and collected seeds too just in case though.

raisingirl

Of course, I don't know if my late returners are the same mature plants or a cluster of self seeded babies that happen to come up in exactly the same place. They LOOK the same, and they are spreading gently out. They self seed very happily into places they will reliably survive - one of those plants to let it find it's own spot and then you don't need to worry about it at all.

Lizzie27

I planted two of these earlier this year at the top of a sleeper retaining wall and one has grown much bigger than the other.  I've put a seed tray of compost on the slate mulch path beneath in the hope that some seeds will drop off, do you think this will work? And should I leave it there all winter or put it in the greenhouse?