Dee, I kept two Arborvitaes in pots outside year round for years. The rule of thumb seems to be if you want to keep something in a container over the winter, it should be hardy to two zones colder than your zone. I think Arborvitae's are hardy to either z3 or z2?

When I have any potted plant that does not meet that criteria, I usually bury it in the pot in my vegetable beds over the winter. I haven't lost anything yet.

I put things in my leaf compost, which is open bins. Preferably half-composted. That insulates the roots and is easy to dig a hole in or pull a pot put of.

My compost is all closed containers (tumblers etc.)

I've already stuck about half a dozen plants in my veggie beds (plus two big plants that were put in there last year "temporarily" lol - hey, I had THREE in there and did get ONE of them out from last winter so I'm doing okay in my world lol!).

Anyway, hence the hesitation of planting them in the veggie beds to overwinter, but maybe I can plant the pot, as suggested. It would be a lot easier to pull out early next spring, and then I would have all summer to procrastinate again! Not to mention, some room for my actual vegetables lol.

Thanks!

:)

Dee

That's right Dee. Having it planted in the pot makes all the difference, you can just pop it out in the spring. It's not disturbing the root system. And you are less tempted to just leave it in there.

I keep a boxwood Green Mountain in a pot all year long in southeast location in front of the garage. When they are forecasting below 20 or so overnight temps, I drag it into the garage for the duration. It's in a pot in a pot and I was thinking of stuffing some bubble wrap in the gap this year.

I think if your pots are in the veggie bed it will be fine. My old house I generated bags of leaves in the fall and I would surround a group of potted plants with a circle of bags. I had an out of the way shady spot to keep this mess. They all did well from what I remember.

Funny you posted when you did, Wendy. I was just outside and realized I have a few more evergreens in pots, including another rhodie and another quite small holly. I really don't feel like digging holes to plant the pots but when it's all said and done, that IS probably the easiest and least labor-intensive thing to do. I don't want to be bothered with trying to drag them in and out or piling up bags of leaves etc - all methods I have considered. I'm just too lazy this year lol.

I did think of putting the pots in the pathway between my raised cinderblock beds and doing the leaf bags. This would probably work but again, I would have to keep checking that the bagged leaves were still there/still holding up etc.

I will probably plant my pots over the next few days. Hopefully the weather will be as glorious as it was today!

:)

Dee