Overwintering young perennials

[fiveaday]

I bought a load of new perennials earlier this year (late summer) from mini plugs as well as germinating a few lupin and sweet pea seeds (as deliberate late sowings) and have been gradually potting them on.

The majority of them are now in 9cm pots and are JUST starting to show roots popping out the bottom.

The lavenders, lupin and sweet pea however, are still in cell trays as they came later.

My question is how best to look after them through the winter?

Should I continue potting on to larger pots, leave them as they are or should I look at getting them in the ground? I don't have their final resting place created yet as they will be going in brand new beds, however, I could possibly find space in the veg beds if necessary.

Also I do have more than enough greenhouse space if this would be best, alternatively I have plenty of plastic wall cloches so could leave up against the house and cover.

Up until now I've been more a veggie grower so this is new territory for me so would greatly appreciate the advice.

Lupin - collected seed

Sweet pea - collected seed

Verbena - bought as plug

Coreopsis - bought as plug

Lavender - bought as plug

Geum - bought as plug

[burnie]

You could leave them in their pots and plunge the pots into the ground to give the roots protection from the frosts/winter.

[Thelma Sanders]

The verbenas are really hardy and can go outside, either in their pots or planted if you know where they are going. Some of those plants in the 2nd pic look like Foxgloves? If so you can do the same with them.

The smaller plugs I'd leave in the greenhouse, that's where mine are but open doors on all but the coldest days. I wouldn't pot them up til it's starts warming up in Spring, as they will stop growing soon and just sit in the pots til then.

[burnie]

Cold frame would be a good idea, Monty was raving about them recently, I have had one, but don't have one at the moment as I use my blowaway mini tunnel instead.

[fiveaday]

They are foxgloves yes, forgot to put on list.

I don't have cold frames yet (next year's job) but there are two empty greenhouses (unheated) I can use.

Anything that goes in the ground will have to be moved in the spring as it won't be final resting place for the plants.

[fiveaday]

Foxgloves went in the ground today.

We've got a new temporary bed from where we removed a large shrub out of the lawn. So that'll be there home until the spring now.

[rary]

looking at your list I think the only one that may be a problem is the lavender as they dont do too well with frost, as the large pots are outside I take it they have been hardened off if so plant or as burnie said plunge the pots in the garden, are your sweetpeas perennial also, the lupins would very likely survive the winter but as it is starting to get colder keep them in a coldframe

[roitelet]

Very often it's not the cold that kills them but damp. Keep them somewhere where they won't get too wet and you are in control of the water they get.

[fiveaday]

as the large pots are outside I take it they have been hardened off if so plant or as burnie said plunge the pots in the garden, are your sweetpeas perennial

They haven't been grown under glass at all. I try where possible, to treat them mean in the hope they'll be stronger plants, I'm not worried about speed of growth as I'm planning this year for next.

The sweetpeas are annuals, these ones are seed collected and sown as an experiment as most packs state you can sow Sept for the following year so thought I'd try with free seed before my packet seed.

[fiveaday]

Verbenas went in the ground today as well. They had very good root system on them as well so think if I hadn't of put them in the ground they might have needed a bigger pot anyways.

The foxgloves that went in 3 days ago look healthier than they did in pots too which is good.

They're a little exposed in the garden so might put some fleece over them when it gets worse.