Adjusting Containers for Seasonal Change

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Rich Binsacca

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Protecting late-blooming annuals and perennials from frost by moving them to protected areas before nightfall allows you to prolong enjoyment of their blooms during the day.

As seasons change, so do the needs of your container garden. Once the cheery, early blooming plants that decorated your patio, porch and entryways in spring begin to die back, you start replacing them with more heat-loving annuals for a colorful summer show. As temperatures rise, so do your watering chores, and keeping a watchful eye for scorched leaves becomes ritual. By the end of summer, your heat-weary container garden is usually ready for a much-needed makeover, including more autumn-friendly plants to help welcome the new season. And even winter can prove container-garden-friendly, with the use of evergreens or other cool-season plants that offer nice forms and textures.

But the start of a new season doesn’t have to mark the end of a container plant’s life. In cold-winter climates, healthy tender plants can be taken indoors before the first frost hits and kept safe until temperatures rise again. You just have to know how to do it properly.

With the coming of autumn, sun-loving plants that will eventually be moved indoors before frost should be eased into their new environment by first placing them in filtered-shade locations outdoors. Repotting plants that will be brought inside for the winter into smaller containers (then returned to their original containers in spring) will help your plants go dormant. If you don’t have enough indoor space to accommodate all of your container plants, consider taking cuttings of new or recent growth from your perennials, then potting and overwintering them.

In mild-winter climates, most container trees and shrubs can be moved under roof eaves and covered with an insulating sheet for protection from frost. In cold-winter areas, seek shelter for your plants where temperatures remain above 38 degrees F for hardy plants, 45 degrees F for tropicals – lower temperatures may cause tissue damage. (Follow the steps in the accompanying photos and captions for tips on how to protect individual plants.)

When it comes to plant care, winter is a time of relative ease. Any container plants that you’ve brought indoors actually need rest during these short daylight days, so avoid fertilizing, and water them minimally. Keep any containerized bulbs and tubers in a damp, room-temperature environment, and rotate dormant sun-loving plants from a southern to western window exposure as the sun moves.

Facts

Remember that water expands as it freezes; a container plant filled with sodden soil will grow in size and can crack a pot if temperatures drop below freezing. You can help avoid such damage by moving your container plants to a sheltered area indoors before the cold sets in.

Tips

Remember that plants require time to adjust when they’re brought back outside at winter’s end. You may have to coddle them a bit, covering them in the evening and removing the cover once the day warms. Water frequently, but avoid spraying foliage or limbs. When your plants reward you with new buds and growth, you’ll know that they’ve emerged from dormancy and are ready to face the elements again.

Tools

Big, heavy pots are difficult to shuttle back and forth from summer to winter locations. To make the move easier on you and your back, buy a dolly cart or hand truck to move your containers with ease.

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