Hi Marg: I get about 20 prolifs. annualy and have an approximate 80% + survival rate using the following method. I don't bother putting them in water to root, I put them directly in wet soil and let them root in the soil. Nothing wrong with rooting them in water but it is a unnecessary step as long as you keep the soil wet for the first two or three weeks and moist after. I plant them in plastic shoe boxes (with holes in the bottom), available in most dollar stores,and use any good potting soil. I plant them 4 across and 6 down and keep a paper record to identify each plant (positions 1 through 24). I keep them outside at all times and bury box and all in a protected area of the garden (where the snow stays the longest) just before the first real frost. Cover them with 3 or 4 inches of mulch to help protect them. I leave them in the garden over winter and remove the box to my out door balcony in mid April. The plants that are strong and healthy will have survived and the weak plants will have died. I remove them from the trays around the middle of May and trans-plant them into the garden, the same time that I plant my seedlings. I tried trans-planting them in the fall but I lost a large percentage as they did not have time to establish their roots. The above method does not disturbe the roots and I have a good sirvival rate. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks. I spent the morning cleaning up an old bed so that I would have a place to put them. Since they are already in pots, I thought I would sink the pots into the ground and cover with mulch. Marg

That works for me. I cut all my Prolifs off the plants by the end of August to make sure they have time to produce roots by fall. Some have roots when I cut them and others do not, but I cut them all regardless. Plant the top of the pot at surface level or even an inch below. The enemy is constant thawing and freezing, which can start them growing too early and kill the plant. I plant mine on the norht side of a south fence where the snow lasts the longest. You can transplant them in the spring where you want them. Best of luck.