An April hummingbird continues to elude me, but I was very pleased with my consolation prize of a male hummer at my feeder today, May 1st; same date as last year.

I sighted him while planting out about 20 or so assorted Salvia guaranitica that survived the winter dormant in my garage--they all had new shoots coming up. For those who might want to try this, my method last winter was to overwinter them in two large plastic containers in moistened peat moss. After frost had done in the foliage last fall, I cut the plants down to a few inches above the ground and dug them out, shaking off just the loose soil. I layered them into the large plastic containers, surrounding and covering them with the moist peat moss as I placed them into the container. I've had limited success in the past overwintering in the garage this way in smaller containers, one plant to a container. I think last winter's method with large containers worked better because the larger mass in the container provided more insulation during the coldest winter days here. Perhaps it also kept the peat moss from drying out too much, too. I didn't need to remoisten the peat moss in the large containers at all--In fact, I completely ignored the containers until today. While it took some time and effort to dig the plants up last fall, it was a lot less work than fussing over cuttings in the basement all winter. It was comparable in effort to digging up and overwintering Canna rhizomes, which many of us do.

Woohoo!

Donald

Zone 4 Red Wing MN

Hi Donald, it's nice to meet you.

Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

Hello Donald,

A Great Big Congrats to you for your welcomed visitor and your B&B's surviving!!!



Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

OK Donald the only thing you left out was the size of your containers. You said they wree very large. Were they tree sized pots or were they more like storage containers. I do like the ide of the moisten peat moss I have a couple of bails that I haven't been able to use up and this might be a good way to do it.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

, Donald, on your first hummingbird--same day as my first this year!! I think mine might have been here on April 30th, but I didn't see him, so I'm also waiting for my first "official" April hummingbird.

Amazing how someone as far north and much colder than I am in zone 6 can get one at the same time. I am becoming convinced it's a geography thing. If you trace their path back to Louisiana or Texas in the early spring, western PA is almost as far as northern Minnesota, even though it is farther south.

Sounds like a great plan you have with those salvias. Mine never survive, and it gets expensive treating them as annuals. I am tempted to try your method if I can get up the gumption to do it this fall. Thanks for the detailed how to! And yes, just how large are those containers, and how many plants in each?

Donald,

Congrats on overwintering your "Black and Blue". I left mine in the ground and so far no luck. Maybe I should try the potted-in-the-garage method.

Another plant I have wintered in the garage, right in it's pot, has been Lantana. I had a large pot with Lantana "Miss Huff" one summer. They get so huge that I decided to just leave it potted all summer. When winter came, I let the frost get it. Finally, around XMAS, I decided to bring it in my garage - I'd assumed it was dead - it looked dead - but come the following April, it re-sprouted in my garage. So I had it another year - this time I planted it in the garden and didn't "save" it in the Fall - but I found that they can be over-wintered in their pots, in a cool but mostly abrove freezing garage.



Wilmington, Delaware
USDA zone 7a
Heat zone 6
Sunset zone 32

Penny and Kristin:

Sorry for the tardy reply--you had a question about the containers I used to overwinter the Salvia guaranitica. They are large plastic storage containers with lids. I had 10-12 in each of two 35 gallon containers, and 5 in each of two 16 gallon containers. If I remember correctly, one compressed bail of peat moss was enough for all of the containers.

Donald

Zone 4 Red Wing MN

Thanks Donald. That is another way to go for next year.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Great news on both posted items! I've never been successful wintering over Black and Blue salvia so always buy new plants each year. It is worth it though since it is one of the hummers favorite plants.

Charlotte Passinger-Ehrhart
Middletown, PA
South Central PA
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6

Donald.

We have, or should I say my DH has a heated workshop on the end of our garage. He keeps the heat just above freezing because of the tools. So far I have not been able to convice him to let me put a few pots in there. What does a women have to do to let me use his man room?

birdlegs
zone 5
S.E. Lower MI.

It sounds like perfect conditions. You will figure something out.