I had a huge tree in Houston area with a 3" dia trunk that I thought was totally hardy, NOT! It is possible person uproots tree and brings indoors and replants when warm ( or has a crew that does it for him). Otherwise, it'd be a safe bet that it will freeze to death one of these AL winters.

I have a large plumeria (over 8' tall) in a pot. I have dug a hole almost as deep as the pot that I have put in the ground, pot and all, for stability. I've planted ground cover that only takes a few weeks and the rim of the pot is pretty well hidden. That tree blew over so many times in years past and sometimes a branch or flower stalk would break off. This was my solution instead of damaging the roots by digging it out of the ground.

So you planted the pot and all in the ground and then just pulled the pot out of the ground for the winter and stored it?

rrle152 did you put it in FULL all day sun (like an Angels Trumpet ) or morning sun only?

If you want to keep it outside don't do so below 22 and cover at 32. You can use all kinds of stuff to cover, like an old downish cover from say goodwill for a buck. That or use a couple of stakes with some visqueen or even a black garbage bag for a day or two. Our frosts are normally not that long. That said, your further north than me so if you get one of those 3 day snows your in trouble. Though there are tons of ways to keep plants outside. I recall somebody growing canary island date palms in Wisconsin or Minnaaaasootttaaa a while back.