Winter Care for Columbine, Lime Sorbet

Question

I live in Zone 6 and we are supposed to have a very bad winter. My columbine is in a pot on my deck. What care does it need for winter? Also, I have a small rose bush in a pot. What am I to do with it?

Answer 1

If you have a spot in the garage where you could put the potted rose and columbine that would be best. Place them up on some wood and not directly on the concrete floor too. Keep an eye on the soil moisture in the pots with a moisture meter. You do not want the soil wet, just nicely moist. If there is a little sunlight coming into the garage in the area where they are stored, that would be good as well. If you do not have a garage to place them in, then I would move them up close to the house wall and build a tented area around and over them. On nice warm days, leave the big flap on the tent open and on cold days leave it closed up. Since decks typically have open areas between the deck boards, it would be good to lay down some plywood or perhaps some duraroc material to provide a closed floor area for them to keep the cold winds out. Keep an eye on the soil moisture with this method too.