Vol. 43

Title:
Using Manmade Snow to Protect Outdoor Perennials

Author:
Michael Poynter

pp: 258

Abstract:
Skagit Gardens is a wholesale grower of bedding plants and container-grown herbaceous perennials. We are located at sea level lat. 48.5°N in northwestern Washington state. We overwinter about 2 million plants per year outside

Hardiness varies greatly among varieties but, in general, a plant is much less hardy in a pot on top of the ground than it would be if planted in the ground. Our particular climate can be cold in the winter (below 10F) for several weeks at a time. Due to our strong marine influence, it can also be in the 50s and 60s in the winter. Our experience has been that greenhouse grown plants tend to be soft and leggy if the weather gets unseasonably mild and we cannot reliably produce a plant that will be hardy in the interior regions of the continent. We do carry a crop of perennial liners in the greenhouse through the winter and some of the 4-in. crop inside to help with early availability for the local and warmer climate customers. These houses are kept as cool as

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