Question: why don't you plant them in the garden?
They are perennials after all.
If you plant them now, by fall they would have been settled and grown enough to withstand the cold.

Thanks for the reply Pitimpinai

I want to do both, I do have a holding bed, but would like to have some potted up to share. AND if I don't figure out how to put this green house to use, I think I will break hubby's heart. he was so proud when he surprised me with it. I told him I did not need it because I WS, but he really wanted me to have one.

I would think the perennials need to go dormant. If that is true, the greenhouse is not the spot to overwinter them. You'd need a dark, cold place - garage, for example.

Maybe you could use the greenhouse to start *some* flowers or veggies (I WS too so I know what you mean about not really needing the greenhouse!). Or perhaps if you had tropicals/tenders you overwinter in the house you could put them in the greenhouse in spring...?

I wonder if you could use the greenhouse as a cold frame and keep some veggie plants over the winter...?

Just trying to throw out some ideas for use here, lol. But I don't think I'd use it to overwinter the perennials.

:)
Dee
P.S. Lucky you to have such a thoughtful DH!

How cold does it get in there in the winter? If it *stays* cold all day for a couple months on end, I don't see why you can't overwinter dormant plants. If it doesn't *stay* consistently cold (i.e. if it warms up much during the day), then no I wouldn't try to overwinter dormant plants. To a large extent, it's not the darkness that matters, it's keeping the soil/surrounding air cold enough to keep the plant in dormant for most plants.

Why don't you experiment with some plants that you don't mind experimenting with? That's the only way you're going to find out unless you're sure what the temps reach in there.

Or, you could use it like a cold frame in the spring, as mentioned above.

How about getting a heater system rigged up and using it as an actual greenhouse in the winter? (think of the veggies and herbs you could have!).

I'm kind of envious! :o)

And if you want to pot some up, just do so and sink the pots in a nursery bed in the open garden.

I'm envious too! I'd be thrilled. I've always wanted a small greenhouse. I'd use it for seed starting, propagating, a hospital ward for the sickies and as a home for some rare exotics. So you've got this wonderful greenhouse (!) - all you need to do is research the best site for it and - most importantly - get a heating and ventilation system set up. I suspect that the expense would not be that great. It would allow you to control the temp and humidity and USE THE GREENHOUSE ALL YEAR. You wouldn't have to drool over seed catalogs all winter, because you'd be out in your greenhouse, gardening. Go for it!

"...If it *stays* cold all day for a couple months on end, I don't see why you can't overwinter dormant plants..."

Well, yes, the key here is that the plants are already dormant when going into the greenhouse for the winter. If they are not dormant, they may not ever go into dormancy inside the greenhouse, what with the warmer temps and sunlight. And be aware that in the greenhouse, they will come out of dormancy earlier. Not a bad thing, I guess, but something to be aware of.

If I had a greenhouse (and it is on my wish list, even though I winter-sow!) I think I would try using it as a big cold frame, and not just in the spring. I would start all kinds of greens, (lettuce, spinach, mache, claytonia, etc), carrots, and other cool-weather veggies in late fall, and winter them over in the greenhouse, going out to harvest them when needed throughout the winter. Depending on siting and the vegetables growing, I don't think you'd need to supplement heat. I harvested vegetables from my cold frames during the winter, so the greenhouse should work similarly. I just don't know if the plants being in the ground afforded any more protection (as opposed to being in pots in the greenhouse.)

Dawn, you should think of this as a big experiment and have fun with it! And let us know what you decide to do!

:)
Dee

oh it stays cold here in the Winter for much too long! Thank you for all the reply's! I guess I will simply do a little of both and see what happens...I do plan on bringing in some of my container veggies and see if I can extend the growing season just a bit. I will keep you posted on my little science project or Woman Cave as my DH calls it, lol.

Without supplemental heat, it isn't going to do much. A car sitting out in the open isn't a bad greenhouse model. On a cold morning, just how warm is it in that car?

Check out the Greenhouse forum, and do some serious research into how much it will take to make the greenhouse usable from say April - November. To use it during the winter will be a much bigger task, but you may find it worthwhile.

I think you guys are being much too pessimistic! Granted, I am a zone warmer, but my cold frames consisted of four pieces of wood slapped together with a storm window and/or an old single-pane window on top. The cold frames contained those plastic, under-bed storage boxes in which I grew carrots, spinach, greens, etc. So the containers were above ground, in these frames. Obviously no supplemental heat.

I did have one cold frame on my asphalt driveway, which may have provided more heat, but the other two were out in the garden.

Perhaps a greenhouse, being so much bigger, would need some supplemental heat, but depending on siting, and how airtight it is, maybe not. I did put some bottles of water inside the cold frame, which (in theory, at least) would warm up in the sun during the day and then keep the frames a bit warmer at night.

I believe Eliot Coleman mentions in his book on 4-season gardening that he grows and harvests carrots all winter, in zone 5. I can't remember if he grows them in a tunnel or cold frame, but here in zone 6 it is possible to keep them overwinter with just a heavy mulch, outside, so....

I don't mean to push the cold-frame idea too hard, but I just hate to see people not try things just because they've never done it before, or because they've never seen it done by others, or because they think it won't work.

Anyway, have fun with your greenhouse, whatever you do.

:)
Dee

Thanks for the encouragement Dee, in basics, I will be using it as a cold frame or walk in container for winter sowing. I just was wondering if the perennials I have started would benefit from a little more warmth, maybe tricking them in to a little earlier Spring. I will experiment and see what happens, it's seeds and dirt and total relaxation, what do I have to lose, lol.