I am a novice gardener and have never done container gardening before. To spruce up my patio area I was thinking of buying some baskets from the local nurseries.

Questions:

1. Is any special care needed with those baskets aside from watering/feeding more often? I realize that the standard deadheading and cleanup applies.

2. If I want to place the arrangement in my own planter of about the same size (just taller), do I actually remove the plants and replant them? Or do I simply put the entire container in the planter and treat it like I would if hanging it?

3. I realize that for containers you normally use a potting mix. Is that always true? What about if I just plant a bunch of annuals that will keep a small root system...could I use normal garden soil? For example, if I stuck some wave petunias in a planter.

4. Perennials in containers. I asked at the nursery and they told me just to plant them in the garden for winter. But I expect to have no garden space left to plant them and I do not have a greenhouse. What do I do to overwinter them? I was looking at both hardy (like a hydrangea) and non-hardy (like gardenias). Can I just stick a potted hydrangea or a juniper in my dark, unheated garage? Will a gardenia survive well indoors? I'm not sure I have a space that will get much direct sunlight through a window, but I have some bright rooms from indirect sunlight.

Thanks.