You might want to set your containers with clematis starting to grow just outside of your garage. that way if (and when) the temperature goes down to freezing you can bring them back into your garage for protection. The tender growth it has produced is not hardened off to outdoor conditions and would be damaged if it freezes. If your clematis in the ground outside have started showing signs of life they will probably be okay because they are accustomed to the outside weather.

I have an attached garage that I store marginally hardy and potted perennial plants in over the winter. It is heated, and the temp is kept around 40 to 45 degrees. With the mild weather we have had in Ohio some things are starting to grow which is very early and those plants are now sitting in the two southern facing windows inside the garage to give them more light. Some things have been growing under LED lights throughout the winter.

It is 72 degrees here today and will be in the 70s tomorrow too. I am afraid everything will be advanced in growth and then will will get a cold snap. You never know what the weather will be in the future, you just have to wait and see.

70 degrees today here in SE Michigan - crazy!

Thanks, Jeb! I've placed them right outside my garage so I can drag them back in if necessary. None of my other clems have woken up yet, nor my other perennials. In the wooded portion of my property, snow drops are blooming and skunk cabbage pips are already emerging from the soil.

And along with all that, I can feel my seasonal allergies beginning to stir, yay! 🤪

I have pots and pots of perennials and hydrangeas and a Japanese Maple or two in our unheated garage and here also we are too warm (at least 3 weeks ahead of "regular" spring) BUT I purposely will NOT even look at these 'garaged' plants as I refuse to do musical chairs with them ie outside one day and then back in another...too much lifting for me. Maybe I will do 'something' come April.

I brought all my subtropiicals (with some cold tolerance) out this weekend past in zone 7b, NJ. It was near 70 F outside and the garage can easily get 10-20 degrees warmer as the sun angle increases. So Date palms, cycads, Citrus, Oleanders and many others are outside now until December 1st. My inground camellias are already at peak (been blooming since November).

I pulled some of my pots out of the barn last weekend but am going to have to drag them back in tonight, will be sub-freezing temps/frost. Then back out again in another day or two. The yearly spring pot shuffle....

I forgot to drag mine back into the garage last night, so they got dusted with snow. Rats!

^^ They might be just fine; at the worst, the new growth got nipped, the plants will survive.

but am going to have to drag them back in tonight, will be sub-freezing temps/frost.

I forgot to drag mine back into the garage last night

Some of the reasons mine pots will not be moved out of the garage till lots later.

(I mound lots of shredded leaves back in the late Fall, around the base of each one, hoping that this will further delay them coming out of hibernation).

The yearly spring pot shuffle....

I will do that in May or even late April but not in early March...not this year anyways.

But @rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a), do you just let them grow all anemic looking in your garage as the new growth searches for light?

My clem shoots actually look okay, but I did move the pots back into the garage for tonight.

Last year I had Autumn Joy sedum and Rozanne geranium in small pots in my garage. I definitely don’t remmeber them waking up this early. I was surprised they survived at all since I didn’t water them all winter.

do you just let them grow all anemic looking in your garage as the new growth searches for light?

To be honest I have yet to look carefully at these garaged pots this "spring"....probably on purpose...ignorance is bliss ;).

As I said, I have too many and some pots are too big and heavy to start doing the "pot shuffle" when it isnt even mid March. (I do find that mounded shredded leaves, although this does make a big mess come move out time, does seem to keep the soil cold and so extend the hibernation.)

I was surprised they survived at all since I didn’t water them all winter.

Im not (surprised). The only water my potted plants get (if I remember, and it is few and far between) is a fistful of snow or shard of ice aka the @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 method.

Well, the containers were dragged in and out of the garage about three times since my original post, then I decided to just leave them outside since they are so heavy. They endured a few freezing nights and a few snow showers, but have really taken off with the recent warmer weather and sunshine!

@rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a), I am curious to know how your clem containers are faring? I wonder if mine would be just as vigorous if I had just left them in the garage longer and only recently brought them into the sunshine and warm weather. I don’t like doing unnecessary work if the end result is just the same! They’re over two feet tall right now, and these are ”Rain Dance”.

As far as weight and moving containers . . . I put mine on wheels as I am too old to move them often with lifting. I either have them on wheeled plant stands or use some type of a large wagon or wheeled platform to move them in or out of shelter from frosts.