How to keep basket plants over winter(UK)

[anytheplant]

I have a trailing verbena that I really want to save. I'd like to take cuttings in the early spring. How is it best to keep the mother plant through the winter?

 

[DirtMechanic]

It is hardy in USDA zone 5 which is -10f to -20f. What is your zone?

 

[anytheplant]

I'm in the UK. We don't have zones

 

[DirtMechanic]

Hardiness Zones in the United Kingdom

Be aware of the hardiness zone in your area before you decide to buy plants. Some plants might not survive over winter!

www.gardenia.net

It says zones 6-9 for UK so I am still thinking it will be fine outdoors.

You also have the Royal Horticultural Society zones they call the H zones.

This article calls for a good winter mulching and says USDA 7-11. Personally I find being on the edge of zone limits risky as they do change over the years.

Verbena canadensis 'Homestead Purple'

Blooming its heart out from late spring to frost, Award-winning Verbena 'Homestead Purple' is one of the most popular trailing verbenas with its indefatigable clusters of rich, bright purple blossoms so useful at filling large areas of one's yard! The glossy, dark green foliage creates a lovely...

www.gardenia.net

We keep tropicals in the heated garage by the windows and take them out on nice or rainy days.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Personally I find being on the edge of zone limits risky as they do change over the years.

You are more stable than us as you are a continent and we are an offshore island with the Atlantic one side and the North sea the other. Weather has always been changeable and unpredictable here, maybe why we talk about it all the time With a changing climate globally this has become even more so, e.g. last summer in the South here we only had 9% of our average rainfall.
Like my Dad used to say "Other countries have climates, we have weather". January to March are the coldest months here normally, but a winter day can be anything from minus five to almost twenty degrees Celsius

 

[anytheplant]

I'm in South West Wales uk. It's mild here but we have a frost occasionally so I'll have to bring it in. We must be in H3 zone.

 

[DirtMechanic]

You are more stable than us as you are a continent and we are an offshore island with the Atlantic one side and the North sea the other. Weather has always been changeable and unpredictable here, maybe why we talk about it all the time With a changing climate globally this has become even more so, e.g. last summer in the South here we only had 9% of our average rainfall.
Like my Dad used to say "Other countries have climates, we have weather". January to March are the coldest months here normally, but a winter day can be anything from minus five to almost twenty degrees Celsius

Even though we have been in USDA 7b and are now in 8a, there is a bellweather fig in the yard that has freeze burned to the ground 2x. That requires temps below 10f. Its a bit of a guess even with the zone guides. I would like to grow in a maritime climate. Here we could grow eucalyptus but not in our continental climate. That means we can only have stuffed Koala Bears.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Plenty of eucalyptus round here, someone was an enthusiast, there was a grove of them opposite the flat where we used to live and I know of another large stand of mature trees a little way up the main road.
South Wales you might get away with tender plants outside if they are in the ground and you give them a bit of cover, but if you can inside when it is really cold is safer.