When tropical agapanthuses, cannas, callas, pineapple lilies, dahlias and rain lilies are sold potted up and in full bloom, they are meant to be “disposable” — plants enjoyed for one summer and tossed at its end.
But there’s no reason you can’t keep these easy-care plants about indefinitely. All of these bulbs, corms and tubers are also sold dried and bagged up in early spring. If they can survive for months hanging on a rack in a home-improvement store, they’ll easily survive in your garage or basement over the winter.
My trove spends its winter dormancy period in pots in a windowless, unheated but insulated garage, close up against the house wall and covered with a frost blanket to protect them from extreme cold when one of our cars goes in or out. They signal their readiness to come out of cold storage by sending up pale shoots, usually in April. When new growth first appears, it’s time to take immediate action or the shoots will rapidly grow tall and spindly as they try to find light.
On a warm day last week, my husband, Randy, and I dragged a dozen or so pots from the garage to the back patio, where first I pulled and cut off all of the dead foliage, stems and other debris. Next, I soaked the pots thoroughly. This takes multiple waterings because bone-dry potting medium is quite hydrophobic, meaning it avoids absorbing water. Soaking each pot in a bucket would work if I didn’t have so many pots to hydrate.
Inevitably the soil in the pots sinks, creating potholes that I fill with fresh medium and water again until things stabilize. A sprinkling of slow-release fertilizer goes on top.
This is also a good time to repot other plants, including those that have outgrown their present homes or, in my case, were run into by one of our cars (two pots broke, but the plants were OK). I also pot up any newly purchased, frost-tender bulbs listed hardy in zone 6 or higher. This includes the purple shamrock (Oxalis triangularis) from Brazil and the purple, red, rose-pink and white De Caen poppy anemones.
All of the above go back into the house under lights and on windowsills, where they’ll live until after the last frost in my neighborhood around mid-May.
Until then all will get houseplant care: watered when the medium starts to dry out; turned regularly to ensure even growth; and pruned back when they get leggy to encourage compact growth and more flowers.
While I’ve got the potting soil out, I also start this year’s crop of new hardy bulbs like , said to be a rare and unusual summer-blooming double ivory-white flower. Hardy to zone 4, once potted, they all went out into my cold frame. Lilies, eremurus and ‘Lucifer’ crocus also get the pot/cold frame treatment. All are hardy and so they could go straight out into the garden, but experience has proven they do better at my house when they get a head start in pots and are planted out in the garden, also around the middle of May.
