Overwintering in a hoop greenhouse

Hello, I have a hoop greenhouse that is not going to be heated this winter. I live in Ohio and I get mighty cold here. I was wondering, I have hosta and coral bells that are plugs and I put them in pot, my question is: will these winter well in my greenhouse during the winter. Do I need to do anything to them like mulch, etc so they will be ok this winter until spring? I know that annuals will not make it but will any and all others be ok in my greenhouse?
I have hostas in hypertuffa pots etc. Thanks for any ideas

Cindy

How big are the plants now? If they're still really small then you may need some heat to help them. The rest of my comments assume that all the plants you're referring to when you say any and all others are ones that would normally be hardy in your zone--the unheated greenhouse might add a zone or so of hardiness, but having things in pots rather than in the ground will tend to subtract a zone, so if you have anything that wouldn't normally survive your winters then I don't think having them in an unheated greenhouse in a pot will save them. The other thing you need to be careful of is that the soil in your pots doesn't freeze--do you think your greenhouse will keep that from happening? If not, then your best bet would be to dig holes in the ground and sink the pots in those, then mulch over the top.

If your pots freeze and thaw, the plants will be pushed up and you'll have to keep pushing them back down into the pot, but that shouldn't hurt them as they will be totally dormant. I've seen this happen at a local nursery in Zone 5 where the owner overwinters his potted perennials in unheated hoophouses. He grows and propagates hosta and heuchera, and they overwinter fine frozen (he uses both fibre and heavy-duty plastic pots).

I will mulch them real good for added protection, My plants are mostly plugs that I got from the co-ops here on daves garden, but the root system on some of them are good. I just don't have time to put in ground and have them get established before winter hits.

Cindy, what I do for over-wintered potted plants (perennials only) is keep them in an unheated hoop house and watch the wetness of the soil/roots. I used to think that keeping them wet would cause ice/freezing and hurt them but it turns out it is just the opposite. Apparently the moist soil takes longer to freeze and also moderates the temperature of the soil. In other words, dry soil will freeze and kill the roots whereas moist soil has a 'moderation' affect.

I'll see if I have my Word file on over-wintering perennials and if so will Dmail it to you.

Shoe.

Thanks Shoe