Big Pots Zone 2-3

hello everyone!
some of you may remember i mentioned that i planted a big pot last august with 3 unnamed semps i bought locally;
i think they got fairly well settled in, but we started to get some cold nights not too long after planting, and the plants started to pull in tight for winter..

we had a fairly cold winter here--probably some lows near -40C, and certainly lots of nights and some days below -20C; luckily for the plants, we also had quite a bit of snow for us (see my photo at christmas under the topic 2009) and the pot was completely buried for almost the entire winter..

they started melting out some weeks ago, and i have been watching..one looks very healthy and is showing signs of growth, rosettes are much more compact than they were during the summer, but likely it was grown somewhere milder and sold here in the spring;
a second, at least partly arachnoideum type isnt showing any activity yet, but looks alive; the third a red, smooth clone looks the most afraid....lol its not dead, so far, but barely looks alive; we will see if it survives spring....

i will try to plant some pieces of these in the ground this year, too, i am interested to see if some plants do better that way than in an exposed pot in this climate; generally, we can grow many/all semps here, so its not a problem with the temperatures, overall...
here are some pics, i will keep you updated...
cohan, west central alberta, canada, zone 2-3[img][/img]

okay.i think the pics didnt show, up, i forget how to do them here, i will have to figure it out later, off to work now...

okay--trying again for the photos...
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Hello,
you can also try http://imageshack.us for uploading photos.

Very interesting !

Do you think semps would be died without snow ?

Your S. arachnoideum ssp is beautyfull

I hope to see more photos of this pot.

Jigueux wrote:Very interesting !
Do you think semps would be died without snow ?
Your S. arachnoideum ssp is beautyfull
I hope to see more photos of this pot.

thank you..usually, sempervivums are very hardy here, and survive most winter conditions--typically we have snow during the coldest times, but we can have temperatures overnight of -20C at times with no snow..

i was more concerned for these plants because they are in a pot, and so they are more exposed than plants in the ground; and i think i have bad news: i think now that both the red plant and the arach type are dead :( the third is looking really good.. also an armeria in the same pot looks very bad....

i dont know what to think about this, since arach should be totally hardy in our winters, and this one was in the middle of the pot, so it should have been safe enough.. so, what was the problem? wet fall? plants not fully established before winter?
this discourages me a bit from trying more pots, i dont want to kill a lot of plants that would survive in the ground, and these big pots are too heavy to move for winter--small pots can be put in the soil, then there is no problem..

i will try some more with the pots--i will make sure to plant anything in early summer so they have time to get rooted strongly, and i will not put my only plant of anything in a pot!

so far, i have not seen any semps for sale at local places, but i will be watching.. i did get some sedums, and a big pot of delosperma very cheap!

A bit of an update-- after that first winter, the S ciliosum survived, and has thrived (seven flower stems this year!!) the other two died that year..
I moved the pot slightly to be in contact with the soil for more steady winter temps, and piled some sod around it for insulation--until I have a back-up for that ciliosum, which I really like, I didn't want to take any chances!
Now that pot has a couple other semps/jovis which have done nicely, some bits of Sedum, and a Veronica repens--the parent died after winter 09, but the seedlings are doing well, creeping among the semps...
You can see some recent photos here,
https://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus/June2011SempervivumFamilyAndFriends
along with some others from plants in pots waiting to be planted permanently--some of those 'nursery' pots, where I planted a bunch of babies (thanks Renata and Olivier!) are looking good as things planted mostly randomly have developed!
Hoping to get some of the rock gardens built this year..

Just a quick sugestion, since you get extrem cold and temps if you have them in pots you can slightly sinck them into the ground for the winter or you can cover them with a white bucket, which helps them to still recive bright light and stops them from ice buildup on there crown that can kill them if sitting for to many months like that, i live in northern Michigan we get -40 below extrem high winds ice storms blowing snow and many feet of snow durring our long winters, my semps in pots i leave outside i sink just the bottom of the pot into the soil and then cover them with white buckets, i have others inground that just get coverd with old fallen pine needles about a 6 inch layer they do great as well.