Potting on Perenials plug plants
I ordered 36 or so of the plug plant perenials that were in GW magazine a few months back. When they arrived I potted up each plug into a small pot. I now have all these pots sitting outside on my patio table and am not sure what I should do with them now over the winter period. I am not really sure where I want to place these in my garden and I do not have any form of cold frame or greenhouse to overwinter. Can I just plant them all into a larger planter and then move them come springtime or will they be fine as they are at the moment in their little pots. I have noticed some of the leaves starting to yellow so not sure if I should be feeding them also. Thanks for any replies.
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If you leave the plants in small pots outside then they are liable to get their roots frozen, which may kill them.
Can you not construct some form of cold frame or shelter?
Do not feed-and I would not be inclined to pot them either
Without a greenhouse or cold frame -which would be ideal-you are limited as to what to do next
You say they are on a table-can you make some sort of makeshift cover to go over them to protect from the worse of the weather-the trouble is although they are hardy if the pots freeze then that will damage the roots
The other altenative is a cool room indoors-is that a possibility?
The leaves yellowing is just the plant losing it's leaves which at this time of year is absolutely normal and definitely don't feed them now. Your idea of overwintering them in a large container is a good one. I would try to get them as near to the house as possible and perhaps cover them in fleece to protect from harsh winter conditions. Because of similar circumstances to yours, I promised myself never to order plug plants ever again too close to Autumn as some never survived the Winter, I only now order very early in Spring.
I have a simmilar dilemma. I have grown on in 9cm pots in my greenhouse and wonder if it too late to pot out in the garden. I have penstemons, lavender and at some delphiniums grown from seed. They are all about 6 to 8" tall.
As one who watched Beechgrove last night it was not recommended to plant out lavender now as they don't like the cold wet conditions that winter brings before they are established
Delphiniums will die back any way
So all in all-I would leave them in the greenhouse till next year-better safe that sorry
Agree with sotongeoff, leave them in the greenhouse. I lost a small lavender plant by leaving it out during winter.
72 primula plugs arrived this morning. I am going to take a chance and put them straight into the border after 24 hours in our unheated, though double glazed, conservatory and another 24 hours in the unheated greenhouse. The self seeded primulas already in the flowerbeds seem to do OK. I may regret it and I don't think I would take the chance with summer flowering perennials. I'll let you know whether it was a bad move.
I understand what you are saying about the roots freezing in the small pots. In that case would six small plants not be better in one large tub until spring time. Definitely don't have space in kitchen which is north facing but is very small and not much room to move. Cannot construct any sort of coldframe so am out of luck there I guess. If I planted them into larger pots I could move these to the front of the house which is south facing and so hopefully could sit under the eves of the roof and perhaps get some heat from the house.
Ok-then if you plant them in the big pot-plant them pots and all-they will not put on much growth now -that way they are protected and next spring you can hoick the pots out -no root disturbance and put the plants in their permanent positions.
How does that sound?
I had those tiny plugs from T&M (lavender, geum, penstemon, delphinium, digitalis, echinacea) and decided to let them take their chance in the garden. They've been out for a month or so now (two months forthe digitalis as they grew so fast) and look quite happy. I don't know whether they will survive the winter, but I'm sure some will. I will try to remember to report back here in the Spring.