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New Rudbeckia and Echinacea plants query

Hi all, I took delivery of three Rudbeckia and four Echinacea plants from a well known on-line supplier today. My query is should I 1) plant them out now; 2) keep them in their pots (1.5 litre pots) and put them in a cold frame or in the green house over winter; 3) put them into larger pots and then store them over winter; or 4) do something else I have not thought of. I would really welcome anyone's recommendations/advice. Many thanks in advance for any advice. Kind regards Soney

Posts

  • Hi Soney.   Your plants should have come with instructions on what to do next, so check your paperwork, but it should be fine to plant them out now.image

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    I would pot up and leave in a cold frame or cold GH once the weather gets a bit colder - both can be a bit borderline hardy, so i would want them a bit older and tougher before they face their first winter.  Then plant out next spring.

  • granmagranma Posts: 1,933

    If they are actual plants with good roots they should be alright in the garden  .but if you put them into the next pot size they would probably add more growth. They  Will die down but come again in spring.

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Verdun  is correct, they probably wouldnt survive their first winter in the garden, I would never put mine out, build up a bigger plant then put them out in the Spring.

    If you are not careful the echinacea will disappear overnight to the slugs. As soon as new shoots come through they will nip them off.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Thanks everyone for all your help and advice. I shall take Verdun's and Lyn's advice and leave them in their pots and overwinter them in the greenhouse. Many many thanks!
  • granmagranma Posts: 1,933

    This is a brilliant forum , sounds Verdun nspeaks from experience , if they are put in the garden next year  would the Echinacea be alright to leave in through the winter do you think? 

    My  rudbeckias were sown straight into the ground two years ago and are alright through  the winters . This is the reason I'm asking 

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    My echinaceas have been alright in the ground for the last couple of years Grandma - although they have been mild winters, i live in the south east, and they are bog standard purple ones, rather than the fancy new varieties.  As Lyn says, the trickiest bit is protecting the emerging shoots from the slugsimage

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    I have quite cold very wet and windy winters, I put a couple of inches of compost over the roots to keep them snug. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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