no experience ...

but how about this ...

pot them all into a very large pot... small pots all in one big pot ... even burying them half way ???? ...

you dont really know what a freeze is.. in z7 .. lol ... do NOT confuse air temp below 32 with your soil freezing solid like it does up here in the great white north .. aka MI ...

i dont know what you read .... so i dont know what they were talking about ....

but a bigger pot.. will hold the media unfrozen... for those few days your z7 get a bit cool ...

otherwise.. in the garage ... and maybe an ice cube or two.. when the soil look dryish ... much better water control.. as compared to swamping the thing with a watering can ...

i would just use a shovelful of snow.. but you probably cant even rely on snow in your frigid z7.... lol ...

regardless... they are not houseplants.. even if seeds ...

couple of ideas.. but i bet you are worrying a bit much in z7

good luck

ken

I don't think freezing is a negative thing for seeds, I know I've read of wintersowing peony seeds. Those seeds are put in gallon milk jugs and such and left out to fend for themselves all winter long. I think the pots/freeze/thaw/freeze again cycle is more of a root thing rather than seed. That being said, I planted my first peony seed this summer in pots buried in my garden rather than out. I tried overwintering peony roots in pots here last year--big mistake--none made it. I was told it was probably a case of thawing and re-freezing that caused my loss though, not just freezing.

Thank you both for the helpful information.

Karen, I think you are right. If they can be wintersown they can be frozen. Wintersowing is all about freezing and thawing. I am sowing species peonies (P. obovata and P. mlokosewitschii [Molly the Witch]; and also P. tennifolia and P. officinalis ssp. Huthii. IâÂÂm not sure those last two are species). The species peonies self seed if left alone. Certainly the seed that falls off the plants to the ground and then germinates gets frozen. I may be overthinking this.

IâÂÂve lost peonies in pots by watering them when they are overwintering. They donâÂÂt want any water in the pots in winter. Perhaps a sprinkle once a month if they are not frozen. If they are frozen, donâÂÂt bother. I learned that lesson the hard way and didnâÂÂt want to learn the same lesson with seeds in pots.

Ken, I laughed at your recognition that IâÂÂm a weather wimp. I havenâÂÂt lived in the great white north but I spent most of my life in Chicago so I know winter ��" the months of snow, the frozen pipes, driving and slipping on ice, bringing the car battery inside overnight so it will start the car in the morning, the wind off the lake, and the cold, oh the cold. But IâÂÂve lived in Philadelphia so long I have become a weather wimp. We do get more than a few days of cool here though. It freezes in my garage for weeks. And true weâÂÂve never been able to rely on snow cover before last year when we had snow most of the winter. WeâÂÂre hoping it was an aberration. Thanks again both of you.