how to best winter my garden - Ask Extension
Dear Expert,
I live in Baltimore City, zone 7 (a/b?) and I have been gardening for just a few years. This year I grew all flowers (some annual but m...
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how to best winter my garden #592795
Asked August 28, 2019, 2:26 PM EDT
Dear Expert,
I live in Baltimore City, zone 7 (a/b?) and I have been gardening for just a few years. This year I grew all flowers (some annual but mostly perennial). I am trying to figure out how to best "winter" my garden. The problem is I only have one south facing window inside my house and I have two cats. One cat eats whatever greenery I bring in the house so I am trying to devise a strategy for wintering that will save as much as possible but also I can put some plants in the ground and I can move some pots onto the front porch (which may stay warmer). These are the plants I have identified as perennials: Verbena, Marigold- Mexican Mint, I have tons of regular Marigolds (maybe African Marigolds), blue hyssop, delosperma, lavender, impatiens (pink) and Petunias (pink).
My questions are: 1. what are your suggestions for best practices for wintering the above plants in the zone of Baltimore City? 2. Additionally, are any of these plants toxic to cats? 3. Furthermore, what is best: dig in to ground, move pot onto front porch, also I have the option to move a couple of things indoors? Thank you for your time and assistance with these beginner questions. Best regards, Andrew L.
Baltimore City County Maryland
Expert Response
Andrew -- Your container plants look beautiful and we're glad you came to us with your question about winter care. Some of the flowers you have, as you know, are annuals. They finish their lifecycle in one year, so it really isn't worth it to try to keep them over winter. The petunias, impatiens, and regular marigolds are annuals. They will die when you get the fall's first frost. They will not survive well indoors over winter. You could save seeds from the marigolds this fall and then start them over next spring. Marigold seeds are easy to collect and save.
Your perennials include the verbena, Mexican mint marigold, blue hyssop, delosperma, and lavender. With the exception of the lavender, these will probably do best planted in the ground. Now is a good time to transplant them so that the root systems get established before the cold weather. Make sure there is not too much mulch around them (which can lead to rotting). Mulch should be no more than about 2" deep and avoid putting it right up against the base of the plants.
Lavender is a little trickier. It can be challenging to overwinter lavender successfully -- it does not like to be in wet soil and needs to be in a well-draining pot. This one I think would be best left in the pot. Keep it the protected area of your front porch in a location where it can get full sun, ideally. Here is information on growing lavender. https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/lavender.html
Our website has much more information on the care of annual and perennial plants. https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/ornamental-plants
For determining a plant's toxicity to cats, a good resource to use is the ASPCA's poisonous plants database. You can search for each type of plant you have and find out if it is known to be a problem for cats. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants
If you want to try to overwinter a few things indoors --- you certainly could experiment by dividing your perennials and pot up a portion to take indoors. Keep in mind, however, that they may suffer from low light (unless you add a grow light) and low humidity, etc. Ideally, you would keep the plants in a location where the cats can't get to them. I think the better solution would be to plant your perennials in the ground outdoors, with the exception of the lavender as noted above.
Christa
Your perennials include the verbena, Mexican mint marigold, blue hyssop, delosperma, and lavender. With the exception of the lavender, these will probably do best planted in the ground. Now is a good time to transplant them so that the root systems get established before the cold weather. Make sure there is not too much mulch around them (which can lead to rotting). Mulch should be no more than about 2" deep and avoid putting it right up against the base of the plants.
Lavender is a little trickier. It can be challenging to overwinter lavender successfully -- it does not like to be in wet soil and needs to be in a well-draining pot. This one I think would be best left in the pot. Keep it the protected area of your front porch in a location where it can get full sun, ideally. Here is information on growing lavender. https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/lavender.html
Our website has much more information on the care of annual and perennial plants. https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/ornamental-plants
For determining a plant's toxicity to cats, a good resource to use is the ASPCA's poisonous plants database. You can search for each type of plant you have and find out if it is known to be a problem for cats. https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants
If you want to try to overwinter a few things indoors --- you certainly could experiment by dividing your perennials and pot up a portion to take indoors. Keep in mind, however, that they may suffer from low light (unless you add a grow light) and low humidity, etc. Ideally, you would keep the plants in a location where the cats can't get to them. I think the better solution would be to plant your perennials in the ground outdoors, with the exception of the lavender as noted above.
Christa
