What can I do with potted shrubs over the winter?

I have some shrubs in pots and may not be able to get them planted until spring. The weather here just dropped off suddenly and doesn't look like it will recover. It just keeps raining and raining day after day.
I have some rhododendrons and nandinas and a willow oak. I also have some hostas and some small evergreens and two drift roses. Can I leave them in the pots they came in, or what should I do? Once they go dormant, how often to I water them over the winter? It gets to about 0 F here some days and we have snow/ice and lots of wind.
thanks!

Can you heel them in the ground (this is a good temporary fix for trees and shrubs you can't get to right away)? If not then mulch them with bales of straw or bark mulch. Water as needed - most won't need as much water during winter. The worst thing is if they don't drain quickly. Others in your climate zone should chime in on other winter tips.

I would find a spot where you could bury the pots in the ground like the previous poster said. This way they have the protection from being in the ground and you won't have to water them because they will get whatever water the ground gets.

Depending on what it is in the pot, I always have plants in pots that overwinter fine in the pot.
In some cases I've found out it's best to leave a plant in a pot outside to go dormant rather than bring it in.
About 4 years ago, I brought into the unheated garage a whole bunch of plants in pots.
I couldn't believe how many died in there. These 3 roses called Magic Roses from Springhill all died apparently because it was too warm in the garage and they never went dormant like I planned.
Anyway, my friend always reminds me how, "I killed her roses".
I never water plants outside that have gone dormant. After I disconnect the garden hoses for the Winter the watering duties are over outside! Just being stupid there, but I never water in the Winter, outside.
It's cool to cold here in the Winter, it rains (it's raining now) and snows here pretty often in the Winter. I've never found a need for supplemental water in the Winter, outside. I have 35 or so houseplants indoors and I water them every 2 or 3 days.
I've found out that about 98% of my plants in pots overwinter and survive in pots outside, IF THEY'RE HARDY.
I've even had plants or seeds in fountain drink cups or dixie cups over the Winter that grow and come out fine.
That mulch and all that's mentioned is a guarantee though that, most anything that's hardy, will make it.
I've rarely done mulch to any pots outside but one might even guarantee a little more survival that way.
The way I've looked at it here is that plants in pots are 2 zones or so more susceptible when left in a pot. For example, a plant in a pot with no mulch or any protection that is hardy to zone 5b or 6a is a pretty good gamble outside in the Winter. I've noticed that a plant in a pot (even with no protection) that's rated, for ex., zone 3b thru 5a or so is almost a sure bet to come back in the Spring.
The ones that die, you get the receipt and take them back to the store..lol
Will

This message was edited Nov 6, 2013 1:27 AM

depending on the plant I either plant them pot and all in the ground or bring them in a unheated garage - I have a dozen or so Japanese maples in porcelain pots that over winter in the garage with no issues.

I do have a big pile of maple mulch out here and maybe I can just sort of pile that up around the pots. I do water during the winter if it is dry. If it is very cold and the ground is totally frozen I don't water. But if temps get to just above freezing, and it is dry, I water. We have had plenty of dry winters where it hardly snows or rains at all, and I think that is hard on plants. Some years it snows and rains plenty and I don't worry about that. I have never had any luck growing anything in pots and I kill anything dead that comes in the house or garage area. I just cannot over winter anything like that. Dug up some elephant ears one year and they all either dried up or they rotted. Someone told me to just plant them deeper and leave them in the ground. They came up fine the next year, so I quit digging them up. I gave up on saving caladiums or glads. The glads I found out the same thing, bury deeper when planting them and they overwinter pretty well.
@ Shortleaf, I have an aunt that lives in Olathe, I think your winters there are more fierce than here, even though we are only a few hours apart. She seems to get lots more snow and colder temps than me.

Springfield IS 2 or 3 hours South of here. The winters here have been fierce before, but lately not so bad. My zone rating is 6a because of the heat island effect here, the downtown Kansas City, Mo. buildings can be seen from here. I enter my zip code here. - http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/# or I can just click on the state of Missouri.
I don't know if that is the official, accurate hardiness zone map, 6a is as low as -10 Fahrenheit anywhere though, I've lived here all my life, I was born here. In 1989, I was working the graveyard shift at a convenience store and this young woman drives in and asks me what's wrong with her car.
It was -23F that night, her radiator contents was frozen solid! I told her and then I went back in the store. It has been very cold but I don't recall a cold near that in many, many years. It may not have been near that cold since.

Now in Olathe, Kansas, south of KC. Before I moved from KC, I dug up many plants (almost 100) and put them in gallon nursery pots, then sunk the pots in the ground. This took a while. They stayed in the ground over winter in KC and did fine. They were easy to dig up later for the first move. I moved to a rental for over a year, planted them directly into the ground, then moved to a house, and moved these plants again and some new ones.

When I moved here 1.5 yrs ago, I bought many tiny shrubs in the spring and planted them in the ground. Most died, either from bunnies or poor soil conditions. Those I saved and new tiny ones I bought later in the fall went into gallon pots then into tubs. I kept the conifers in the pots/tubs but planted 3 more rhododendrons and 1 azalea in the ground the next spring. Those in pots/tubs did great over the last winter. So, sink the pots in the ground (for many) or into tubs (for a few if you have tubs and potting mix) - both ways are easy. I think they will die if only in the pots above ground. I do not trust using a garage to overwinter. Good luck.

My replacement apricot fruit tree just arrived a few minutes ago. I want the temp to warm up a little before I plant it today. Brrr. 39 now, will be 56. Hope the shoveling is easy. We have had many freezes already.