Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

plant now or leave until spring?

JanetlJanetl Posts: 31
in Plants
Hello all,
I have several plants that I have grown from seed over the summer and are now about15cm high. They are hollyhock, hardy chrysanthemum and aquilegia  but those are smaller. Should I plant them out now whilst it it still warmish or just keep them, feed them and overwinter them in the conservatory for planting out next year?

I am am tempted to overwinter them as we got really bad snow this year and it was sooooo cold here. (nothing between us and the Wolds bar our hedge so the wind and snow got a really good straight line run, so much so, we had frozen pipes and no running water for 4 days)

thanks

Posts

  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    The aquilegia  should be fine outside after hardening off, even small seedling plants came through both beasts from the east here last winter.
    Hollyhocks probably ok too, but I have no personal experience of them.
    The hardy chrysanths are a bit more doubtful, they are one of those plants where hardy doesn't always mean hardy here!
    I would be inclined to put the last two into a cold frame of some kind, even a makeshift one, that would give them a little protection from the cold and, crucially, the wet. Plants can often cope with cold, but not cold and wet.
    Definitely not in the conservatory, maybe GH , if you have one, for the chrysanths.
  • JanetlJanetl Posts: 31
    I don't have a greenhouse...which is the problem. The conservatory is unheated so doesn't get used by us over winter. It does however keep all my geraniums, non hardy agapanthus and gerbrias very happily overwintering. I got so cold this year I had to bring in stuff that I had in a coldframe as they were very unhappy!
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I have the same question but am more concerned about slugs. My little foxgloves wouldn't make it. My hesperis neither.
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Yes, smaller plants are very vulnerable to slugs. They can also be dug up by passing wildlife. The main problem with conservatories is that they have low light and extremes of temperature - especially turning into ovens when the sun shines. If you have overcome these problems then I would keep your plants there but a cold-frame is easy to knock up and always useful.
Sign In or Register to comment.