Hello, winter is coming. I know it's not here yet, but I'm a student and once school starts next week it might as well be winter already - time will just vanish under my finger tips. I don't know which (if any) plants I can leave outdoors. Any I can would be a big help, as I live in a small apartment and "outdoors" is my small porch.
Even cold tolerant plants have me worried, as they are all in tiny pots, and I doubt the shelter of my porch will be enough to let them survive.
I am not sure what
zone my area is, according to some
zone maps, it's
zone 4. According to "Western Garden Book" it is
zone 2A (winter temps between 10 and 20 F at night, and down to -30 every few years).
Off the top of my head, the ones I have to ask about are my mini-
rose and my
seed grown purple coneflowers.
The mini-
rose hasn't bloomed this year. It recovered from losing every last leaf. My understanding is that it should be kept outside (like a larger
rose), but I'm not sure if it's ok to leave it out there since it is potted and not in the ground.
The coneflowers I started earlier this year, and they are
growing in plastic drinking cups, and have 4-5 leaves each. I think they would've been bigger if I'd given them a larger "pot" and more direct sun (which I don't have).
There are probably some others I'll want to ask about, but these are of the most concern to me. Any plants I bring inside will be kept on a deep window sill (faces south or south-east). It will be chilly there, but not nearly as cold as outside. This is the only place I can possibly put these plants, as it's the only window (ok, there is a bedroom window too, but the cat would knock over anything I tried to grow there.)
I'll be moving before next
spring, and I'm going to try and find a place with more garden-friendly spaces.
Sorry for the long read, any help or thoughts would be great.