Shrubs and Perennials

[Gina Miller]

A Shrub and Perennial question: What does everyone do with the Perennials and shrubs you overwinter that you had had from the previous spring? Do you re-pot larger container, do you cut off some roots replant in the current container or do you leave them as is? Thanks

[Timothy Lamprey]

We leave them as is, unless they obviously need to be re-potted. We give them some Osmocote and get them growing again. They generally look pretty good in short order.

[Paul Westervelt]

Depends entirely on the plant and the size of the pot. A perennial cyclamen in a 4qt may be fine for several years where a Coreopsis in a 1qt could be hopelessly rootbound in short order. As a plant person, you know what you're comfortable buying and you shouldn't sell something lower than that standard. If potting up woodies in a larger container, keep girdling roots in mind. The good folks over at the Garden Professors blog have numerous examples of how a rootbound woody will eventually fail due to girdling roots.

If your roots are in good shape (regardless of peren or woody), make sure your EC is where you need to be and roll on :) Happy selling!

[Kathleen Gilligan]

Agreed that each plant takes an individual call.  Before tucking them away in the fall, I divide any perennials that have filled their pot.  Many just take a slice in half, and in my opinion pays for having to handle them at all.  Small sedum are the first thing that comes to mind.  I don't put any perennial in anything less than a gallon pot, and that gives them plenty of room to take off and fill the pot by time they are ready for spring sales.  They get osmocote and preen as soon as they are thawed and ready to go back on the bench.  I realize this is only applicable for smaller quantities, but it works for us.

Shrubs do get their roots clipped when repotting as needed.