By Lubeelu
Hertfordshire,
United Kingdom 
Help! Gardening Experts - when to plant out plug plants? I recently aquired 6 each of Delphinium Pacific Giant, Lavender Hidcote, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, Digitalis Excelsior, Echinacea Primadonna and Penstemon Tubular Bells. I've potted them on and with the exception of 3 of the delphs, they're all doing quite well - especially the foxgloves which are growing out of their little pots already (only potted on 4 weeks ago).
I've been babying them up til now, (particularly the echinacea and delphiniums as my garden is overrun with snails and slugs and they adore the young leaves so they get brought in at nighttime) but my question is, what to do with them over the winter? I don't have a greenhouse, could I plant the digitalis and lavender out now and would they survive? Would I be better off planting some of them into larger pots and overwintering them in the shed? I can't keep them in the house, they're taking over!!!
Any advice gratefully received!
9 Sep, 2012
Answers
That's great advice, thank you. Individual bottle cloches is genius (why didn't I think of that?!). Presumably the cloches will give them a bit of protection against the elements too... fingers crossed. They're the most cosseted plants in the UK right now, so they'd better make it through the winter!
9 Sep, 2012
Previous question
« i am planting a thuja in the garden should I use ericaceous compost?
As they are all perennials the theory is you could plant them out now but as you say 2012 is the " Year of the Slug"so they will need some protection.
Have you considered building yourself a 'tunnel cloche' all you need is a few straightened out wire coat hangers and a sheet of clear plastic!
Put them under this, then sprinkle a few slug pellets around the ends/ edges of the cloche.
Then towards mid/end of November you can plant them out in their final quarters.
Meanwhile accumulate a few large pop or milk bottles to act as cloches once they are individually planted out!
I leave these thoughts with you...Tg
9 Sep, 2012