Winter Containers, Part 1

Inner Portland moved to USDA Hardiness Zone 9a recently and I’m putting it to the test. I’ve always called my front yard The Mediterranean because it faces due South, is terraced (drainage FTW), and I can grow just about anything side-by-side (I have hellebores and succulents as nextdoor neighbors) and some things throw off blooms well into the shoulder seasons (both! I have blooming gentians in spring *and* fall, in fact, they’re blooming right now).

So this year I’m going to try to overwinter the lantana and bacopa from my summer containers. Both these plants are sold as annuals, as are things like osteospermum and many fuchsias, but they will often survive a Portland winter if given some protection and good drainage. If you accept that they a) won’t bloom for several months, and b) may defoliate completely and look dead, cut them back to keep the unsightly bare stems in check and they’ll regrow fresh next year.

The lantana and bacopa (both hardy to Zone 9a) are in some rectangular containers at the edge of the patio abutting trellises for two clematis. The clematis (Roguchi) is a two-toned purple so I often incorporate purple into these containers, this time the bacopa has purple flowers. Though the bacopa has stopped blooming, it is still mostly green, and the lantana is both still blooming and has all its foliage, so far. This week we will get into the low 30s and possibly even into the 20s at night, so the foliage may not be long for this world.

Being in a fairly mild climate I only replant my patio containers twice a year and completely replace the soil for summer, adding a slow release fertilizer. This allows me to plant cool weather plants in the fall that will stay in them until spring the following year. In this way, the containers don’t sit empty for several months and it gives the plants time to grow a good root system so that in spring they have a leg up and can really put on some growth and blooms right away. I usually do replace the decorative cabbage and kale with primroses in spring because as soon as it starts to warm up they will bolt. But the pansies and violas will quickly fill the containers with the happiest (and fragrant) blooms for many months.

The lantana has very warm tones for bloom color so it jives less with the cooler colors of the pansies and violas than the bacopa, but this is just a test to see if they will even survive a winter here. Lantana comes in many colors so if the experiment is a success I might consider being more discerning when choosing colors for summer planting so that anything that stays will go better with a winter planting. Hard to tell at this point, but the pansies and violas in these are a mix of yellow, white, purple, and blue.

Look for Part 2 after I get the remaining patio containers planted.

Continue to Part 2: