how much experience do you have.. wintering over pots???

ken

The size of the pots is big enough to leave them there...I would only give them a protected place in winter and plant them next year...Congrats you got twins :-) And a nice cat, seems to be a hosta checker like mine...

Ken, I don't have a garage or such to overwinter plants. Can you explain more fully what you mean? Thanks.

Karin, that is Zizu, my little rescue kitty. Everything I do, she must supervise. Including hosta inspection. I included Zizu to give an idea as to the size of the new hostas. Picture of YOUR cat, Karin?

Beautiful cat. Obviously of the "helper" breed, same as Zizu. I have a new 9 or 10 inch pot I was intended to plant the single STGN in. I could fit all 3 tiny pots inside of it and fill the surrounding space with soil, put it under the lee of the Obligatory Bushes.

they are not houseplants ...

and with your common area garden ... i would suggest you bare root them and just plant them ...

since you had to ask.. i will presume you havent a lot of experience wintering over pots in your common area .... pots can be tricky .... and i would hate for you to lose them.. due to lack of experience .. and trying to kill them with too much love ...

just plant them in native soil .. no fert..water in properly ...

ken

Ken, meanwhile I called NH Hosta and they suggested I plant these baby hostas in the ground pot and all, and then replant them in my chosen pots and in the ground in the spring. I would do this in the newly prepared "extra" garden space I found behind the Obligatory Bushes. That would give a lot of protection against wind. What do you think of putting them in the ground in their pots in that area, mulched, for the winter?

I DO have several hostas planted in containers which have wintered over just fine just sitting in the garden where they always are, but they got a chance to get established all summer long and were quite a bit large than these tiny babies.

well hot spit.. someone who actually knows what a telephone is for ... great ...

only last thought... if you native soil doesnt drain.. but the pot is full of peaty media ... make sure they dont go into cold weather sodden ...

it also wouldnt hurt to throw some light mulch over the top when it gets cold ... and they are completely dormant ..

the key to success.. is GET THEM DORMANT.. KEEP THEM DORMANT ... not many plants like going in and out of dormancy in winter ...

and mind you.. i am a lot colder than you.. so some of this might be a bit much for your zone ...

ken

I was just about to make ask a similar question about some minis that I came across, Appletini, Frosted Mouse Ears, Lakeside Cupcake, and Golden Wampum. I think I will follow the advice from NH Hosta and do the same thing for this winter. Zone 5

Thanks, Ken. The native soil in the "newly discovered area" is heavy clay, but I tilled bag after bag of peat moss into it almost a decade ago when I moved in. Moreover, I just dumped a bag of Miracle Grow or some such brand of general purpose garden soil, which is like black velvet, into the "newly discovered area" to bring the level of soil up to the rest of the garden. The drainage is excellent, as it rained all day Saturday with no puddling at all. I intend to put an inch of my "shredded forest product" red much (the Scott's Earthgro mulch) over the whole new area to further protect the babies.

I also visited my local area nursery today. While there, I asked their on-staff sage what to do with the baby hostas. He tossed me three 4" plastic pots, on the house, and told me to repot the babies into these slightly larger pots and THEN put the pots into the ground.

Charlie (the sage) and I often get into detailed conversations about various houseplants. Today was no exception, as I told him of my big box store super-find of a Sansevieria ehrenbergii samurai --- the store had no idea about rare it was to come across---along with a beautiful Crassula arborescens undulatifolia, both in a planter with some sort of echeveria which was on its way out. I pointed to the ailing ordinary echeveria and got all 3 plants for half price, tee hee.