You don't mention where you are. If your ground is not too frozen to dig - plant it pot & all, ASAP Then you can move it to where it needs to live permanently in the spring.

If you're soil is completely frozen and under snow like mine is.... Put it in an unheated garage or shed water it once a month & hope for the best.

If you don't have garage or shed - An insulated cooler would give it a better chance of survival.

Too big for a cooler? Yikes! Ok.... fill a trash barrel with leaves, straw, packing penuts or something to act as insulating material all aroung it - especially the pot

Hope this helps, good luck.

By the way do you already know that you need a male and a female winterberry to gett the berries?

Since these are so hardy, you can probably get away with storing it in a protected spot on the north side of a wall or fence, with leaves piled up around the pot and held in place with netting, burlap, or just a few boards. All you need to do is to make sure the plant isn't in too much sun or wind and that the soil doesn't dry out completely (or stay swamped for too long). The dry leaves will help moderate temperature swings and will keep the rootball from drying out. If you don;t have dry leaves handy, a bag of bark nuggets would work well too; just don't pile it too close to the plant's stems.

If you'd add your zone to your profile, it would be easier for people to give specific info. The instructions for doing that are on this forum ... a search should get them easily.

First, you should learn the scientific name of your plant. Winterberry usually refers to Ilex verticillata--but I have seen florists/nurseries give the name to any plant with red berries, even tropicals.

If you are sure you have Ilex verticillata, then follow the good advice given by others, especially the fact that you need a male for every few females if you want berries on the females.

Hi All--Thanks for the info.sorry about not including my zone--i thought i did it once and it stayed forever. I'm in zone 6,metrowest Boston. Yes,I have a true Ilex verticulta,and I know I need a male--planning on getting some more plants this spring. will let you know how thisone fares over winter. Thanks again. Jardinista

Hi Jardinista, I love the look of their berries. Check out the "Project Feeder Watch" thread, Claire has some pictures of a beautiful old Winterberry Holly with the birds all over it. They love the berries.

I'm planning to order 10 Ilex verticillata seedlings from the NH Nursery this winter. They come in packages of 10 or more, and they are only 1 or 2 year old seedlings. So it will may be a few years before I have berries.

I ordered 80 seedlings last Spring most of which are planted in holding beds right now. I think I gave you one at the Spring swap, a little Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa)? Gray Dogwood is another very popular berry bush for the birds.

Here is a link that might be useful: NH Nursery seedlings for 2008

Depending on the local plantings, you personally may or may not need a male winterberry. When we lived outside Philadelphia, we had two female English hollies that were pollinated by a male across the street. Around here there are enough wild winterberries, that I'd at least try to get along without a male at first.

The male can be kept small, and planted in the same hole or behind the females. I did this with Ilex pedunculosa, the longstalk holly, and it works fine; the little male is polinating a half dozen larger females, and they all seem very happy. It's not likely that there are more of these in my neighborhood, but Mad Gal is probably right about winterberries.

Jardinista, I envy you having an enclosed, unheated porch! They are so handy for a variety of winter plant storage problems, I'd love to add one to my house if I could just find a spot for one. My entrances all go into small heated "mud rooms" (foyers?) that are useless for plants that need a cold, protected spot for the winter. You're really lucky to have one of these.

My big old winterberry is pollinated by unknown male(s). There's lots of them in the woods here.

Claire