I would plant them anyway; their survival would be a toss-up no matter what you do. You can definitely plant the lilies, anyway. Plant them, make sure the soil is moist, mulch them, and hope for the best.

Not really the answer I wanted! I'm so lazy today, but it is 50 degrees now, so best day to do it! Thanks for the reply!!!

Roxanna, I could co-sign your post! I had two dozen potted perennials placed in their prospective permanent locations and had to collect them from all over the garden so the mow and blow crew could do their thing. Now what? Fortunately I have a few raised beds where the soil is pretty loose so I can heal them in NOW. Collected a lot of pine needles from the town's recycling/yard waste and I'll throw them on top. Then like you and many many other gardeners I'll cross my fingers and forget about it until spring.

Good luck. I bought some warmer garden gloves to have one less excuse to not do the work.

I heal in pots on a slight slant in my garden every year. It has always worked for me. Some of the pots are seedlings I’ve been growing during the summer. This way I don’t have to rush to decide on where they’re going to be eventually planted.

Thanks for tip on angling them.

I looked a little further and here's what a tv guru gardener said:

". Try heeling in excess plants in vacant areas in the landscape. Start with sheltered locations to further increase your ovewintering success. Dig a trench large enough to house all your pots. Set the pots in the ground, making sure the lip of the container is even with the soil level. Cover with soil and water throughout the fall as needed. Once the ground freezes cover the plants and soil with straw, marsh hay or evergreen boughs for a layer of added insulation."

if your native soil completely drains ... you can heal in the pots... if not.. you might be better off sliding them out of the pots ... you can slide them back in in spring ...

just one large hole ... jam them all in ... no need to get fancy with many holes ... name retention might be a problem.. if thats important ... make a map if necessary ....

the plants should be dormant.. they dont care about temps... im sure your hands will ... whatever..

just do it ...

if real lazy... set them against the north side of the house .. place a rock.. tip one over on it.. tip the others along the first ...

basically.. all we want to do.. is keep excess water from sitting in the pots all winter ...

all the better if they end up covered in snow all winter ... keeps them out of the wind ... wind burn can be the biggest problem ...

JUST DO IT ...

ken

Roxanna, for several years I overwintered about 200 pots each winter in an unheated garage. It can be done, and done successfully.

If the plants are zone hardy, they should survive the winter in your garage. Make sure they are well watered, bring them in **after they are dormant**, and check them for moisture in January or February. Put them in a spot in the garage where the temps will remain constant (i.e. out of any sunlight that may come into the garage, etc.) It will help if the plants are in decent sized pots. I have overwintered things in small 2- to 3-inch pots, but of my losses over the years, it was usually the smaller pots.

Since I had so many in the garage, what I would do for moisture in January or February is just shovel a few shovelfuls of snow over the pots, if there were snow on the ground at the time. Otherwise I would water maybe once, lightly.

Honestly, after a few years I either got sick of dragging them all in or like you (and probably like a lot of us, lol!) I procrastinated, and the pots just lived outside. Even outside, most of the stuff survived.

FYI, my garage is truly unheated. It is a free-standing garage, with not a bit of insulation - boards and wood shingles on the outside. It's cold and temps remains pretty constant.

Good luck!
:)
Dee

So there you have three good options. I just came in from heeling in plants and it was snowing a bit, our first. The angle is very important since you do not want water/ice/snow collecting and sitting on top of the pots.

I get ample snow cover so I have never done the extra step of covering after they are frozen. It would be interesting to hear from someone in that situation who has heeled in (successfully or not) with lack of snow cover.

I have overwintered pots in my garage over many years because I get lazy. Most do okay. A few did not. I would try it.