I'm so over this weird, miserable season, I'm looking toward next Spring. I have several smaller plants in small containers -- fans I started from roots, broken fans I've rooted, and some single fan plants -- that I worry about making it through the winter (especially if this one is as horrible as the last one). I've read that they can be overwintered in an unheated garage/shed, but I'm not sure how they should be handled. Do I water them regularly? Will they be okay if my garage doesn't have windows? Do I place them on their side, like the ones outdoors? Do I need to cover them with anything?

Has anyone successfully overwintered daylilies in a garage? Can anyone give me some tips on this? Thanks in advance!

MMm, I would choose to winter them outside in a SHELTERED location. Put the pots together near a southern exposure wall if possible, and (this is the important part) put mulch or soil or clippings around and between the pots, so they are mounded up like a small hill. I've successfully wintered pots during tough winters using this method . It isnt necessary to cover the top of the pots but to fill around them carefully so there aren't air holes or pockets.

I would agree with Julie about overwintering outside. For at least the last 5 years, I have been sinking the ones I still have in pots in the vegetable garden. I till the garden under and then I sink the pots and fill in between the pots with dirt. I will top dress with leaves/pine needles. I never have any problems. I have also heard were people put the pots in circle and then surround the pots with bagged leaves and throw some leaves over the pots. I stick with sinking the pots in the vegetable garden. I haven't lost any yet.

David (Zone 5, Upstate NY)

With our zone difference in mind (I'm 7A) I'll just put in my 2 cents worth. I grow 90% of my daylilies in smallish pots. The small 6 inch or even smaller pots get overwintered in my ATTACHED unheated garage. Left outside they do not survive for me (the other larger pots (8"-12") are left outside in sheltered locations above ground). If you are going to take your daylilies inside, here's what I would suggest. Let them stay outside for as long as you can while letting the foliage begin to die back. When really cold temperatures begin to move in for days at a time I bring mine inside regardless of how the foliage is....... Dormant or mostly so daylilies require very little water. Think of all those daylilies sitting for months on end in Walmart without a drop. I wouldn't subject MY daylilies to mart store treatment but the point is, daylilies do better dormant with minimal water. Just enough to keep the roots moist. When the temperatures start to warm up in spring begin hardening them off before the foliage grows too much. I've had good success with this method and wish you luck if you try it...
......Maryl

Maryl said: If you are going to take your daylilies inside, here's what I would suggest. Let them stay outside for as long as you can while letting the foliage begin to die back. When really cold temperatures begin to move in for days at a time I bring mine inside regardless of how the foliage is....... Dormant or mostly so daylilies require very little water.
......Maryl

Thank you, this is what I need to know! I have dozens of daylilies in buckets, and I can overwinter those tipped on their sides and buried in leaf mulch. It's the smaller, costlier ones that I'm worried about, but I've never overwintered the smaller containers before, nor have I ever overwintered in the garage. It's attached, but unheated and windowless, though it's probably a better option than leaving them outside.

floota said:I would choose to winter them outside in a SHELTERED location. Put the pots together near a southern exposure wall if possible, and (this is the important part) put mulch or soil or clippings around and between the pots, so they are mounded up like a small hill.

This is what I do with the larger buckets, and it works quite well. But these are smaller containers with smaller fans, which worries me since last winter we spent so much time at sub-zero temps.