Ideally, if you had a flower bed or some spare "dig-able" ground you could just dig holes about the size of each pot and sink the pot into the ground, up to the rim. Fill in the gap between the sides of the hole and the side of the pot with loose soil. As extra precaution, once it gets cold mound leaves or peat moss over that, and then ensure it gets good snow cover throughout winter (just pile snow when you shovel the walk.) Ideally, a dry area on the north side of the house would be ideal (one where the snow doesn't really melt or the sun doesn't heat too much in winter.)

If, however, there is absolutely no place to dig, perennials have been sometime know to overwinter in, say, an unheated garage or unheated shed. But, this is more risky as even in these places it still might get too cold for the roots of the hostas. This method worked for my smargd cedar and mini cattail plant, but not for my delphinium.

Another idea, if you have a crawl space, spare fridge, or cool basement maybe you could store them there? Ideally 2 to 4C would be great. I would keep them mostly on the dry side, however, but check on them occasionally.

Glen

I watched a show about a gentleman who grew hostas both in the ground and in pots. He actually overwintered the potted hostas. He explained that the worst thing for the hostas in pots was when excess water accumulated in the pots and the roots would rot. His advice was to lay the pots on their side. If you only have a few hostas, I would try putting them in a cooler for the winter. Water them well first so the roots don't freeze dry and then let the excess water drain off. Marg

Have you made any friends in the area who have a garden with empty spots? Can you borrow a spot in there until spring? It would be ideal to just get them into the ground, pot and all. Although, I have accidently left a few hostas, pot and all out on top of the ground one winter and they all made it through. But...I wouldn't recommend it.

If you live in the Brandon area, email me and come on over.

Brenda