My mini hosta in containers spend the winter months in an unheated shed. I'm in 5a west of Chicago. They need to be protected from heave and thaw or they will die. Mine get put in the shed slightly damp after all foliage has died back. Out when it gets warm usually April and water well.

Sherry

three issues with winter containers ...

too much water in the top .. accumulating and turning into an ice cube .. no air .. or in warmer areas ... just rotting roots ... since dormant plants simply dont need all that much water...

and.. the pot goes in and out of dormancy.. because its doesnt have mother earth to temper air temps ...

and the last thing is.... they will come out of dormancy early due to air temps... so you will have to battle frost/freeze issues in spring ...

ken

Would dropping the pots into the ground for the winter mitigate those issues?

Blueberry, that might make them vole fodder.

I've got some hostas in pots that I put in the garage every winter, and they grow better than the ones I have in the ground. I think it's because they don't have root competition from the trees.

Be warned though, if you bury the pots under trees, there's a very good likelihood that the tree roots will grow through the drain holes in the pots. That's happened to me numerous times, so I don't do it anymore!

Deanna

pot in ground..

in my MI ... freeze will break a ceramic pot ... so if plastic.. mother earth can temper temp fluctuations ...

in my attached garage .. in cold z5 .. i would guess my garage is z7 ... so there could be some issues with very early emergence ..

in my pole barn.. at least z6 ... i have done it with hundreds of pots ... the only trick is how to water in winter ... and i usually suggest snowballs or ice cubes ...

no clue how that would all work in your micro climate ..

ken

Deanna, did you see my thread on Fragrant Blue and pots? http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3918002/im-a-bad-hosta-momma-fragrant-blue?n=20

Sinking pots into the ground can work. I do it. The trick is to remove (or at least turn) the buried pot a few times a season. That way invading roots can be broken and minimized. Trouble begins when you bury the pot and forget about it.

BlueberryBundtcake, last year I buried four small pots completely into the ground. Early spring I dug them out and repotted them. They are doing fine. I have found that small pots in the garage can dry out. I purchased a few minis this year and am considering what to do this winter also. I am thinking about potting the three minis together in one pot and storing in the garage. That way I figure the pot won't dry out that quickly.

I push mine close to the side of the house, and cover with leaves. I have to dig through the leaves to get them out in the Spring. The soil in the pots are always still moist. Laying on their side they do not get waterlogged (we get winter thaw and rain then it turns below 0 cold so we end up with a block of ice.

Ken,

So you water during the winter? Everyone talks about no problems with pots in their garages, sheds, etc but I don't have any experience. Only thing I ever did was a pot of bulbs which froze and rotted. I'm in zone 5 here in the Cleveland area so give me a better idea of exactly what you do if you don't mind because this is something I would like to do this next winter.