I had some in a large pot that overwintered sitting outside on my deck...for three years! I finally planted them down by the lake when they outgrew the pot, and they are still doing fine although you can only see them in the early part of the season as grasses come up later. I guess leaving it outside would depend on how big the pot is and how cold it gets in your area this winter. I have a friend who planted hers in a somewhat moist area of her urban yard, and it has done fine there.

Mine winter over the best when I plant the whole pot in a relatively sunny part of the garden and mulch a little with dried leaves.

I keep mine in a tub (i have a mixed pot and a big pot and it's easier in one vessel) right up next to my west facing brick house, and they've done well for 3 years like that through the winter. If it threatens to get in the teens, i bring it in the house for the night. I love my carnivorous plants!

As others have suggested, Sarracenias do well in large pots and tubs (3 gallons or bigger) and will do just fine outdoors all winter. You'll probably get better growth in a big pot and worry less about the plant drying out on hot sunny days.

A small pot might have problems with freeze drying, so the safest approach would be to cut off the pitchers, put the pot in a ziploc bag, and stick it in your refrigerator until early March. That's what I did when I lived up in Michigan.

I've kept mine out all winter for the last few years with the pots sitting in an inch or two of water and they've been fine. If we get a real cold spell (15 or below) that looks like it's going to last for a while I might drop them in my pond or stuff them under the house for a few days.

It's good to find out that these "triffids"...(remember that old sci-fi tale?) are well adapted to winter. I have enough fussy flora in my garden.

I will do as instructed....thanks all!

claire in sanford

Hey, Claire,
ANother vote to make sure you pot up your Mardi Gras (BTW, a harder to find sarracenia now). Reason: Especially if it's in the pot it came in, the soil mixture may be mostly peat, which can freeze hard when wet. Better to put it in a 1/2 peat, 1/2 coarse sand mixture, bigger pot with more insulation.

I have a lot of pitchers in large, but shallow, containers, and just scoot them up closer to the house with good winter sun, and they overwinter well.

Mine are potted in 1.5 gallon pots with gravel in the bottom third, then 50/50 peat and coarse perlite. Then they're sitting on bricks submerged in a ~25 gallon ceramic tub (on of those big blue Vietnamese pots with silicone plugging the drain hole). I try to keep the water level around the crowns during the warm season, then I let it go about half way down the pots in winter. Have been successful with this for about 5 years now.

{{gwi:589561}}

Mark

That's similar to how i have mine set up. They are in a galvanized 6" tall tub, but i leave them in their individual pots. I try to keep at least a half inch of water in it at all times, but it varies depending on how attendant i am and how much rain we've had. Mine are in nearly pure peat for the combo planter, and the other pot is partly soil, partly peat i believe. It's been happy so i never messed with its soil.

I just bought my first pitcher plant at Hatcher Garden's semi-annual plant sale the last Saturday in October. Linda Cobb, one of our resident plant experts who was on the megaphone pushing them and who has had several at her home for years (and bought more at the sale), told me I'd be fine just to put the same pot it came in into shallow water deep enough to just barely cover the holes around the bottom of the pot and let it stay that way all winter...

What I did was to sit the pot in part of the shallow stream that connects my header pond to my lower pond, and so far, so good. I guess I'll know for sure by May or so.
Jeff