fall planting ?.

[Bon]

I bought a bunch of iris' and tulips. If I plant them in my whiskey barrel (made of resin) will they survive the winter, or will they die?

[Petee]

If they are above ground they will probably freeze.  The deeper they are below ground the longer they live and the better they perform.

[Petee]

I should have also said that you can bury the pots of bulbs in the ground and lift the entire container to bloom somewhere else in the spring or you can move a container into an unheated garage for the winter and they will bloom.  They just can't freeze solid or have their roots disrupted during the chilling phase.  

 

They also must be chilled, but not frozen, for a period of time in order to start the blooming cycle.  

[Bon]

thanks!!! I can't bury the pot and dig it out in the spring. To much weight for me to be lifting.

[Petee]

Maybe bury them in small pots and just move them to the bigger planter when it thaws?  It could be a fun experiment.  I've overwintered them in pots in the extra refrigerator and they did bloom.

[lavender]

I wouldn't bet on them freezing although I couldn't make that an absolute statement. Remember that irises, if planted properly, are on the surface of the ground all winter. The tubers are not buried but subjected to air temperatures unless the ground is snow covered.  I've never had tubers freeze and one spring I had an uprooted iris tuber just laying on the ground.  I also find small bulbs such as grape hyacinth on the surface of the soil in the spring. They are none the worse for their winter exposure.

Tulips are a bit more problematic. Like all hardy plants and bulbs they have a kind of "plant antifreeze". This is why tomatoes freeze before cabbage. It is hard to say just how low a temperature they will stand but it is certainly lower than freezing.  Tulips with a good root system will also do better and actually the freezing and thawing of the pot soil is more of a danger than really cold temperatures.

Since the barrel is already planted and you can't move it you could just wait and see. If the bulbs are valuable you could wait until late fall or early winter and cover the pot with an insulating layer of straw or whatever. You can always put them in the ground and then lift them in the very early spring but that is a lot of work!

 

[Petee]

Sorry, I was talking about the tulips.  The Iris will do fine although it's a little late in the season.  Get them in as soon as possible so they get some roots grown to hold them in place for the freeze and thaw.

[Bon]

what if I put the barrel on the front porch, will that be enough coverage that the bulbs won't rot or freeze?

[lavender]

Put it against the house for some protection and maybe wrap a quilt or something around it. I'll bet it would be OK unless we get an unusually cold winter. I plant stuff that isn't fully hardy in our zone against the house and it helps. I know a fellow who has calla lilies come back each year and they are planted against his house. Yes, I mean callas not cannas!

[Petee]

Tulips do not go through a severe freeze well although they do need a thorough chilling.  Why not try both locations, in the pot wherever you want to leave it and potted in a refrigerator.  You will have spring blooms from one or the other location, and possibly both depending on how cold the outside pot gets.

 

Callas are much hardier than Cannas and supposedly should live through a winter here but it's rare.  It all depends on how long the bulbs can withstand cold temperatures for how long?  Some varieties work better, as do different varieties of tulips.

 

Time to experiment to see what works best at your house!

[lavender]

Hardiness zones for cannas: zone 7-9  http://www.hardytropicals.org/index.php/plantabase/entry/canna

Hardiness zones for callas: zone 8-10  http://www.callalilyshop.pacificcallas.com/planting.htm

 

We are zone 5 two zones away from where cannas may be left in the ground and 3 zones away from where callas can be left in the ground. At best they are equally hardy although that is not my experience.  I have had the freak canna survive in the compost heap over the winter but it is very unusual for callas to survive in our area.

 

No bulb survives freezing although at what temperature the bulb freezes varies from bulb to bulb. Actual freezing bursts the cell walls and destroys the bulb. The ruptured cell walls is what makes frozen plants go limp and mushy. Once bulbs freeze they rot

 

Tulips are generally hardy to zone 3 (minimum temperature -30 to -40 degrees F) although a few are only hardy to zone 4 (-20 to -30) Our zone 5 has a minimum winter temperature of -10 to -20. We rarely seem to reach anything below 0 degrees anymore.  Remember that they are air temperatures and the

soil will be warmer but still it will be relative. The question is will a bulb that suvives -40 degrees in the ground survive our average winter temperatures in a big pot. These are the facts that you need to make a decision. The call, Bon, is yours.

[Petee]

A friend in Reynoldsville has Callas that come up every year but she probably has a really warm protected place such as we all long for.  

 

Let us know what works?

[Bon]

I bought more tulips last week ... can't help it, they were calling my name.

 

I am going to put them on the front porch and see how they do. the south side of the porch has windows in it. It is only open on the eastern and northern side.

 

one of my canna's half bloomed today!!! when it opens the whole way I will take a pic of it. I am going to take that pot into the basement to over winter it.

[Bon]

Saturday we stopped at a garden center that is between Tyrone and Waterstreet. That place is huge!! They had banana trees that were down to $13. Said you cut them down, mulch them over, and they would come back next year. If we weren't on the bikes, we would of bought one .... plus some rocks, stones, flowers, more rocks. We are going to go back with the truck one of these days.

[lavender]

It is apparently possible to overwinter banana trees here. Alvetro's was doing it and  I know a fellow who does it.  That is the technique that they use. It looks as though Alvertro's has them on a mound.

They had what they called hardy bananas at Hanzley's a few years ago and when I asked they did say that they were special bananas not the ones that we customarily grow as house plants.

Me, I take my truck wherever I go. I hate it when all I can buy has to go into a car. And a bike! That's good for a couple of zucchinis.

[Bon]

And a bike! That's good for a couple of zucchinis.

Had to take my bike to get a new front tire on it. It had just a little short of 26000 miles on it.

 

 

[lavender]

Thought it was the back tires that go. Or is that my husbands idea of sick joke?

[Bon]

lol...back tires get around 10-12 thousand

[Petee]

Hi Bon,

 

Here's a video that just came to me and I thought you might like to see it.

 

http://www.homedepotgardenclub.com/VideoLibrary/Default.aspx?id=818706631001&cm_mmc=hd_email-_-090711_GC_1_O365-_-090711_GC_1-_-Video%3aPlant+Bulbs-GC&et_rid=7076892

[Gilb3314]

My hubby bought me a banana tree at the above named place in Falls Creek. I planted and mulched it according to their directions and it did not survive. They do have them there and winter them over, but mine didn't work out, I told them about it and it was my tough luck, they had lots of little ones there, but they wouldn't replace it, well after my rant he did offer to replace it and I told him where to stick it. so I don't buy there any longer. $50 was a bit much for a tree that lasted from JUly through the fall. I even bought my mulch there and used to buy lots but no more.

 

I don't bring my tulips bulbs in and they come up every year. Iris' doing great and are reproducing like crazy. Cannas or callas, whichever I have didn't do well this year, I think I will just let them out and start over next year, maybe just dig a few up.

[Petee]

My hubby bought me a banana tree at the above named place in Falls Creek. I planted and mulched it according to their directions and it did not survive. They do have them there and winter them over, but mine didn't work out, I told them about it and it was my tough luck, they had lots of little ones there, but they wouldn't replace it, well after my rant he did offer to replace it and I told him where to stick it. so I don't buy there any longer. $50 was a bit much for a tree that lasted from JUly through the fall. I even bought my mulch there and used to buy lots but no more.

 

I don't bring my tulips bulbs in and they come up every year. Iris' doing great and are reproducing like crazy. Cannas or callas, whichever I have didn't do well this year, I think I will just let them out and start over next year, maybe just dig a few up.

I also bought a Banana from him and the trick is to plant it higher where the water won't pond anywhere near the stem, then mulch it.  Mine was in a teeny bit of a hollow and it rotted.  They can stand a bit of cold but no soggy soil.

 

Do you leave your tulips out in a pot or in the ground?

 

Callas are short exotic looking flowers.  Cannas are very tall foliage plants in comparison and have a flower at the tip.

[Gilb3314]

My tulips are in the ground, Then I had Cannas. They did well last year, but I didn't have them in a good spot this year and was late planting them.

 

I followed the instructions to a tee. The lady there was nice, but he was a jerk. I used the wire part of a rabbit run which was over 3 feet long, put it over the cut off tree and filled with mulch.

[Petee]

Yep, he told me the exact same thing but if you notice, his are up on a mound and he buries them in mulch.  Much different than what he tells others to do.  I just sent my second one to a greenhouse for the winter.

 

In the spring pot up your cannas and let them get a head start.  You will see much better plants.

 

[lavender]

My tulips are in the ground, Then I had Cannas. They did well last year, but I didn't have them in a good spot this year and was late planting them.

 

I followed the instructions to a tee. The lady there was nice, but he was a jerk. I used the wire part of a rabbit run which was over 3 feet long, put it over the cut off tree and filled with mulch.

The late planting will keep cannas from doing their best. I never could get them in the ground early enough so took to putting them in a pot for a month or so until I could get around to it. They did better that way. You are not the first person that I've heard say that cannas didn't do well this year. It was a dry summer and cannas like water.

 

I'll be talking to the fellow that grows the palms and bananas here in DuBois and I'll let you know what I find out. We have a lot of trouble overwintering stuff in our heavy clay soil because it holds water. Roots tend to rot in it when the weather gets cold and bananas are at home in loose, well-drained soil. Some bananas that originated in Japan are hardy to subzero temperatures. Depending on what this nursery was selling, it is more probably the lack of  good drainage rather than the cold that did in the plants. I'm guessing that Alvetro's has their plants up on a mound for just this reason.

 

Timing is also important in mulching. Heavy mulching too early keeps the soil from freezing and the plant may not go properly dormant. The idea of a winter mulch is to keep the soil frozen and the plant dormant.

 

I think that nurseries should not be selling plants that are not hardy or won't grow in our area but many of them do. I've brought home many plants that were perennials if you lived a zone or two south of us. They should not be selling them here as perennials if they won't make it through our winters. With something as exotic as a banana tree they should be giving better instructions than just to mulch it.  

[Bon]

wel I finally got my tulips & iris's planted on Sunday. They  are on the front porch next to the house. If they come up, they come up, if they don't, they don't.  My canna is still doing very well. It is also against the house.