Preparing Outdoor Potted Plants For Winter

Begin preparations well before that first freeze or you may lose one of your prized plants.

Preparing outdoor potted plants for winter.

Winter container gardening is tough you have to protect plants from wind harsh sunlight and drying out. Outdoor container gardens usually involve annual plant species that are simply discarded in the late fall and replaced with new plants in the spring. But many perennial plants such as roses and hibiscus also can be grown outdoors in containers and kept alive through winter. On perennials that have finished for the season cut back stems to 6 to 8 inches from the ground.

Even plants that are hardy to your zone can be hit hard when planted in a container in the winter. But with that said winter care is pretty simple and straightforward as long as you bring them in out of harms way. The biggest challenge though is guarding against root damage caused by rapidly fluctuating temperatures. Potted strawberry plants are a bit more susceptible to the freezing temperatures of winter than those planted in the ground.

In dry winter areas that don t freeze or have little snow water perennials once a month to keep them alive and healthy. In all other areas cut back on watering to help plants harden off in preparation for winter.