Does no one know the answer to this question?

Hi Sheryl - I am in Toronto - zone 5. Have not had much luck with bulbs - my columbine have overwintered fine - am still waiting to see signs of growth on my clematis and hostas. This will be their fist winter. Miniature roses have not survived either. I am new to balcony gardening so am still trying to find what works.

I'm zone 6, and had pretty bad luck with bulbs in containers last winter (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths). None survived except for some tulips in a large, thick-walled wooden container that was wedged into a very protected spot that received radiated heat from the building on two sides. Not sure if this means wood is a better insulator than clay, which the other containers were made out of.

Proper darinage may be important, as well. I noticed some of my bulb containers retained water at times throughout the winter. This would freeze into a solid block, perhaps killing the bulbs.

Its great to know that oclumbine will do well. I have lots of seeds for those and love them. What about hostas?

I will try the bulbs. Mainly I'm interested in oriental/asiatic/trumpet lilies and daylilies. Has anyone grown these on a balcony in zone 5?

Sheryl - I'm not in your zone but I have asiatic lilies out in pots on my balcony. They are supposed to be very hardy and seem to do well in pots. Mine are all up and growing fast. This is my 4th year with them and the first 3 years, I sortof moved the pots back against the balcony wall and under my bench. This past winter I left them where they were and let them get snowed on and they did fine. The temps here went as low as 4° F (-16° C), which is the lowest I've seen in about 7 years.

With any bulb (as I found out this past year the hard way with some daffodils in a container that didn't drain), you want to make sure that the container doesn't stay soggy in winter (but if the soil isn't frozen and the air temps are above freezing, they should get a little drink now and then during winter).

We had a really bad winter in Barrie last year with occasional lows of -30F. However, they do survive those temps easliy, in the ground. I can bring them in during the winter and put them in storage at my mother in laws, along with all the other tender bulbs and some tropicals. Or just bring them indoors. Maybe I can insulate them all out on the balcony so they don't thaw during the warmer weather. That's the killer.