I am gonna be starting a lot of perennials and bulbs this year and I need to know how to overwinter them so they come back next year. I figure if I get prepared now I will be ready before they wind up either being flooded and rot or get eaten by slugs and bugs. Here is my list: Calla Lilies, lilies, Gaillardia, Butterfly weed, Shasta Daisy, Carnations. I am really curious about the Carnations as I have never started them from seed. The carnations and the lillies are really the important ones as I want them come back because they are my wifes favorite. The only idea I have is to get some of that weed cloth and make small tents over them to keep out a majority of moisture but still let the soil and flower bulbs/roots breath so they come back next year. A major worry is black mold and other mopld from the bedding getting too wet as well as the heavy rains we have all winter here. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Any and all advice wouuld be very helpful because I know how much more beautiful flowers come back when they have strong bulbs and roots.
A shed is good if its frost free, Or wrap in nespaper. Check through winter for sioftness in the bulbs.
You are in zone 8-9? I am in zone 8a and not much about my weather conditions resembles yours...go figure. Find out the hardiness zone rating for the plants and bulbs you want. If your temperatures don't get any colder than that rating then they should be fine left in the ground with a good layer of mulch. If your winter temps cause the ground to freeze and snow to sit around for weeks at a time then you will need to dig the bulbs up. The perennials should be just fine left in the ground with a good thick layer of mulch if they are hardy in your zone. If you have fairly mild winters the perennials will still be growing strong roots all winter so digging them up for the winter will stunt their growth. If you have unusual amounts of rain during the winter you could transplant the perennials to pots that could be outside on nice days and brought into a day place during the rainy days. To get specific information for your area 'pick the brains' of the employees of a local garden center (not one of the big box stores, they were probably selling plumbing last week) or the local Agricultural Extension Office they can give you info for your growing area.
Snow, maybe 2 weeks a year and rarely if ever consecutive days. Freezes up to 5-6 days in a row each winter maybe 3 times, normally only once. Rain, third most in the continental US. Bulbs will be in buckets and planters I wish I had a good resource loacaly for advice on plants and such. My only local garden center isn't all too informed on flowers in buckets and recommend planting in the ground to protect them. I will try my conty extension though as they have smoe master gardeners on there whom might actually know what they are doing.
Calla lilies do well in Western Washington. They are tough and vigorous enough slugs don't usually kill the old fashioned kind. Shasta daisy are natives, so definitely no problems there. Carnations and Gaillardia do well here but don't like wet feet or wet leaves (best to water in the morning). Make sure your potting soil is light for them. Lilies, the slugs will eat to the ground. I always grow the lilies in pots with slug bait in a circle around them. They do really good in pots and I have had some of the star gazer lilies rich heights of 5+ feet in pots. After 5+ years in pots I finally got brave last year and put the nice sized bulbs into the ground. The "Sorbet" lily seems not to be bothered so much by our slugs. I love having flowers and trees in pots so that I can move them where I want them. They add a lot to the outdoor living spaces. The main thing is to make sure that the drainage hole doesn't get blocked. Depending on the pot I sometimes take the drill and make the hole bigger or drill a hole into the side of the pot and inch or so above the the bottom. (Drains well, but there is a reservior of water in the bottom - this is only for my water lovers) Lots of strategically place broken pottery at the bottom of the pot helps to prevent water build up...that and good potting soil. I've only lost one pot of lilies that had "attached" itself to the ground and formed a water blockage. (I have since learned to watch for this) I have a pine and cedar that have been in the same pots for 8-10 years. I have only lifted them once to put new soil under them as they seemed to settle down into the pots over the years. Our temperate climate makes keeping these plants in containers pretty no fuss. All of these plants should winter outside in pots without any problems through our worst winters. It least I have been lucky enough over the years not to have lost more the one drowned pot of lilies.
Thank you so much Jewell, it is so nice to see information from someone in the same area. I figured I would have to cover the pots with straw, mulch and who knows what else to protect them from bugs and from our non stop winter rain. I will make sure to have plenty of drainage and put a lot of rocks and pottery in the bottom so the holes don't get plugged. I have 2 apple trees and a Filbert in pots right now but I am gonna upgrade them to a lot larger pots real soon. The small gallon pots just seem to be too small for them. This gives me some encouragement to get an Asian Pear also as they seem to do really well in this area. Do you have any other suggestions for perennial container flowers for this area? I love the ones like snapdragon and Lupin, I know SD are annuals but flowers like that are my favorite. A friend of mines mom has some awesome red flowers that the hummingbirds almost literally fight over.
Good news, snap dragons are usually biennials and sometimes short lived perennials here (at least I have had them winter over on most years sometimes for 3 years if we don't have hard freezes like the last two years) Sometimes you can get really nice BIG plants that second year with some luck. Lupines are also native here, but only biennials. I have grown the Russel lupines, but last year harvested some native lupines and am giving them a try (in the ground). You can grow anything in pots here. If you like it- grow it. My oldest periennals were moved around with us before we bought. I still mix flowers (annuals and perennials) with grasses, trees with ground covers in pots. For a number of years I had a rhodie and azalea in pots because I couldn't decide where to put them or even if I wanted to keep them. For free pots try this site http://www.2good2toss.com/. I put an add in for used pots and now have all the gallon and 4" plastic pots I will need for a while. If you are planting trees into the pots try to make sure you have at least a five gallon size to help maintain even moisture. The bigger the better for trees. For pots I am partial to the clay looking or cement looking rounded edge plastic pots that are approximately 25" in diameter...plastic is easier to move also. They last and maintain their good looks forever (I have some older ones I passed on last year to my son that were at least 15 years old). Costco has been the cheapest place to find the big ones consistently, but I check out all retailers. Good luck and post some photos .
I tried listing on 2good2toss and got no hits. Doesn't matter because I have family getting buckets for me, wil have a lot of 1-2 gallon and 5 gallon buckets soon. I am hoping that the larger bucekts will help them over winter here and I will not have much trouble with the bulbs freezing and my Carnations will weather the cold if we get a hard freeze again. I can always put a lot of mulch over them and try to keep them close to the house to help prevent a hard freeze. I can always put them in the garage once I get the darn thing cleaned out a bit.
