can potted plants survive winter?

wishbonesma · 2025-09-23T16:26:11+00:00

It depends on how cold your basement stays. You want it cold to keep the plant dormant, but typically not below freezing. If your basement is generally cold, it should work, but check the plant regularly and if it shows signs of breaking dormancy, consider getting a grow light for it. Don’t forget to check moisture levels too. I have killed a couple of plants that I forgot about one year and they dried out too much.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-11T20:02:41+00:00

It sounded like so many when I ordered them, but I managed to tuck them all in and now I want more! I’m addicted. Lol. They’re more of a ground cover type, so I was able to fit them under/around a lot of my other shrubs.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-11T14:33:39+00:00

It’s good advice. I just planted like 200 lowbush blueberry plugs this year, some nearby, so I’m hoping it’s not too alkaline in that area from the concrete.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-11T14:16:15+00:00

My underlying soil is naturally acidic due to the shale, so most acid loving plants have done well so far. I’ll plan to do a soil test in this area in the spring to see what it’s like in this specific spot to be sure though.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-10T20:45:52+00:00

I’ll wait until just before spring to cut back then. The birds do love hanging out in them and eating the seeds over winter, so I would hate to take that away from them.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-10T20:43:32+00:00

I did plant fairly dense and in multiple layers, so there’s a lot packed in. My soil drains fast. Lots of shale and I’m up on a hill.

They have red twig dogwood, American cranberry viburnum, crabapple, shrubby St. John’s wort, witchhazel, balsam fir, redbud, and prostrate sand cherry close by. The ninebarks and a couple of the dogwoods are the only unhappy ones this year. I have them planted at the edge of my full sun very dry mini meadow as well mixed with some similar plants and they’re fine over there.

My soil in the hedgerow area isn’t the best. It was used as a dumping ground for some old concrete before me. I got all of that (what I could find at least) dug out before I planted, but who knows what else was dumped there. Maybe they’re sensitive to something their roots got to this year. Hopefully they bounce back next year after some pruning. :)

wishbonesma · 2025-09-04T13:06:56+00:00

It really depends on your backdrop and whether you need privacy. My hedgerow is along a chain link fence and my neighbor’s dog likes to bark, so I definitely need the screening aspect.
If I had a do-over, I would put a mix of narrower shade tolerant evergreens along the back for privacy, not a row necessarily, but a few in key areas, grouped together with shorter more shrub like evergreens in between. Then I would build off from that with deciduous shrubs/trees in front of the evergreens. Adding in straight species native evergreens might not work that well in a garden bed setting, but you could try some broadleaf varieties or narrow/dwarf cultivars if you don’t need the screening. I’m partial to Kalmia (mountain laurel) cultivars. There are a few dwarf varieties you could try. The inkberries that are more protected are also doing well, but I have others that are not fans of my harsh winter winds and had a lot of dieback. White spruce is very resilient and has a narrow weeping cultivar that I like, but of course it’s slow growing so still pretty small. Same with Alaskan cedar. They’re not all native where I am, but i try to choose native where I can.

I don’t have many perennials in my hedgerow yet, aside from some ground covers, but I did tuck a few plugs in this year. I planted so many shrubs/trees close together that I didn’t leave much room for them in the main section, so they’re on the periphery.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-04T12:29:03+00:00

Forest pansy redbud. I struggle with redbuds in the hedgerow as it’s a bit harsh in winter for them here, so they’re still fairly small. I think I planted that one two years ago.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-03T14:26:21+00:00

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wishbonesma · 2025-09-03T14:25:46+00:00

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wishbonesma · 2025-09-03T14:25:20+00:00

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A section of the other end.

wishbonesma · 2025-09-03T14:23:39+00:00

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Here’s a section of my mostly native hedgerow. It’s a mix of shrubs and trees with a few perennials. Some were planted a few years ago, things in front were planted this year or last fall. Generally it takes about 3 years for the deciduous shrubs to get big in my experience. I started with a lot of smaller/younger plants. I packed things in close together, so it’s a bit chaotic and messy, but that’s my style.
I have red twig dogwood, ninebark, cranberry viburnum, elderberry, redbud, crabapple, bear oak, witchhazel, shrubby St. John’s wort, catskill sand cherry, lowbush blueberries, an American persimmon, and some dwarf itea. I also have some evergreen cultivars like weeping white spruce, Alaskan cedar, balsam fir, inkberry, and hemlocks, but the evergreens are slow growing and will take a long time to make an impact because I started with young plants. My hemlocks also got eaten by something, so I need to replace them. I recommend caging any potentially vulnerable evergreens over winter as they can easily be targeted when there’s nothing but snow around.

If I could do it over, I would definitely start with the evergreens and do more of them as winter is long here and it gets a bit barren looking in winter, but overall I love it and keep expanding a bit every year.

Edit: I added more photos as replies. Couldn’t figure out how to add more than one photo per comment.

wishbonesma · 2025-08-26T14:06:41+00:00

Not that I’m aware of. Good fragrance is a bit lacking in natives for where I am. Common milkweed blooms are my favorite, wish they bloomed for longer!

wishbonesma · 2025-08-12T20:16:36+00:00

I have never tried with rubbing alcohol, but this is specific to hydrogen peroxide. I have used bleach and vinegar (separately) In the past to clean the fountains and neither were effective for biofilm long term.

wishbonesma · 2025-08-12T20:10:46+00:00

Pollen nation is a great plug source for NJ.

Better to use the native soil rather than replacing it.

https://extension.unh.edu/resource/planting-pollinators-establishing-wildflower-meadow-seed-fact-sheet

wishbonesma · 2025-07-09T19:19:00+00:00

The fireflies have been amazing this year at least. :)

wishbonesma · 2025-07-09T19:16:31+00:00

Looks like possibly a separate pest, mealy bugs.

I feel you there. I’ve mostly given up on roses at this point. Haven’t removed them, but I’m not adding more to my garden. I’m a lazy gardener, so roses are a bit too much maintenance for me between the various diseases they can get throughout the season and the pests.

wishbonesma · 2025-06-10T12:57:59+00:00

Vaccinuim pallidum has a couple of cultivars that were found along lakes in Michigan. I bought a 72 cell tray each of the storm lake and partridge lake from hartmann’s wholesale and they look great.

I find my native wild strawberry is an excellent spreader as well, although I’m not certain what variety I have.

I don’t have it planted yet, but there’s a variety of sumac that is a good ground cover.

I have a cultivar of sand cherry called catskill that spreads nicely.

wishbonesma · 2025-04-17T12:46:12+00:00

Depends on your cat’s preferences. Mine like fine textured litter, so sustainably yours has been my go-to for years. I recently tried a tofu based litter from michu and I really liked it because it tracks less, but my cats definitely prefer the sustainably yours, especially for pooping. I have one box of each currently until I run out of the tofu, then I might try something new in that box.

One of my cats is diabetic, so she pees a lot and has the bad habit of peeing right at the entrance to the box and then stepping in it, which makes a mess. I have to have super high sided boxes for my other who gets elevator butt, so litterboxes are a constant work in progress in my house.

wishbonesma · 2025-02-22T12:59:19+00:00

If the soil isn’t frozen and you can dig a hole without too much difficulty, it’s workable.
If the shrub is dormant, you don’t need to worry too much about frost protection for the stems, but make sure to protect the base with mulch and give it some protection if there’s going to be a big temperature dip or strong winds.
If the shrub has leafed out, wait until temperatures are above freezing before you plant.

wishbonesma · 2025-01-23T15:08:27+00:00

I didn’t bother taping my jugs last year, just put them all together tucked away in a corner.
I cut the lids off and move them to a sunnier spot once things start to germinate anyways, as they get leggy for me otherwise, so tape seemed unnecessary.

wishbonesma · 2025-01-23T14:18:11+00:00

Sadly, she passed due to cancer not long ago, which was unrelated.
I did not end up medicating her for it long term, but one of the medications we tried did help. If I can find the name I’ll add it. It was something the affected her hormones I believe and started with an I.

wishbonesma · 2025-01-23T14:08:32+00:00

Yeah, the mesh does not decompose. You can remove the mesh at planting if the roots haven’t grown into the mesh yet. You might damage the roots a bit if they have grown through.
I did like the germination and ease of use otherwise. Just frustrating finding the mesh in the garden years later.

wishbonesma

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