My Private Plant Growing Station

I have been growing and experimenting with plants for a while. I have an outdoor area on the side of my house where I grow and experiment with perennials, trees, and shrubs. Sometimes I buy them, and sometimes I propagate them mostly by cuttings or digging them up from the wild. I rarely do seeds, but sometimes I do. In the winter even the most cold hardy plants can not survive in pots. When plants are above ground the cold wind burns the roots and kills the plant. So either each and every pot needs extreme protection and some kind of heater, or put them in a greenhouse or cool garage. I use a special storage shelf in my garage. Their is a major problem with that though. I have a heated garage. So it is room temperature in my garage. It is extremely difficult to keep my plants dormant for a long enough time. Last winter I was only able to keep them dormant for maybe about 3 months or so. Most have survived and are still thriving. What I do to keep them dormant is in extremely cold days like below zero days or at least temps below freezing keep the garage door up for 10-30 minutes per day so that the bitter cold air counteracts the heat. Also when ever there is snow on the ground I place a lot of snow over each plant to keep them cold and from drying out too much. Yes, snow does insulate, but it is also freezing, and helps stay cold enough to help counteract the heat of the garage as well. Both of these methods help in keeping them dormant for at least a long enough time. I left all my plants outside unprotected for at least several frost's/freezes, making sure not to leave them out when it dips below 25°F or so. This helps guarantee the go dormant before placing them in the garage. Last year they went completely dormant the first week of November or so. Our first average freeze is mid-October. They awoke from dormancy in early/mid February. It was still freezing out and they would die if they were placed outside. So I kept them in my indoor propagation room with plenty of sunlight untill they could go outisde. The last freeze in Indy is Mid-May. This Bringd me to my propagation room. I overwinter annuals and Tropicals, grow houseplants, and propagate plants in here. It keeps me busy during the winter months as well. I hope to invest more into this hobby and get more space!

NatureMan

LAST WINTER