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madonnaswimmer
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Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:41 pm
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

How long do I wait for my perennial herbs to emerge?

Last year I transplanted several perennials (kept in a garden plot in the previous year) into pots, and they did well. Over the winter, I mulched the pots with dead leaves and left them outside my apartment. Two weeks ago (8 weeks before the last frost up here in Wisconsin), I unearthed the plants, moved them inside (temp around 70-80 degrees), and began watering them to try to get them to come alive again. Only one plant (tarragon) of the 8 perennials (the others are chives, oregano, rosemary, summer savory, bee balm, lemon balm, and catnip) has started regrowing. It has been rather cloudy lately, but they have gotten a handful of very sunny, warm days (and they are always inside, in 70-80 degree temps).

How long do I wait on these perennials before simply declaring them "dead"?

If they aren't going to come back, I'd like to use the pots to plant seeds for something else. Therefore, I don't want to wait too long and miss the opportune time to seed (which would be right now). But on the other hand, I don't want to dig up these plants if they still have a chance.

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Well let's see... the summer savory is an annual, so it won't come back. The rosemary is a tender perennial, only hardy to zone 7. I have to bring mine in for the winter and I'm south of you. So especially in a pot, that one will not have survived. Oregano survives outdoors for me in zone 6, but I think that is the limit of it's cold hardiness and I think you are probably in zone 5. And again, my oregano is in the ground. Growing in containers is like being a zone colder. If you are in zone 5, to have something survive in a container, it should be hardy to zone 4. So the oregano is likely a goner too.

The bee balm, lemon balm and catnip are quite cold hardy, so had a good chance of surviving the winter. I'm not sure why having left them outside all winter, you brought them in for spring. But being inside, you will need to provide them with lots of light. Part of the signal for plants "waking up" is not just temps, but hours of daylight. It could easily take at least two or three weeks for them to start showing growth. Having brought them in, once they do sprout, they will need to be hardened off to go back out, that is get used to the outdoors gradually, not all at once.

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madonnaswimmer
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Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:41 pm
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Thanks for the reply!
The summer Savory surprised me last year as it magically came back despite not being labeled a perennial. So I saved it in the pot just in case it might happen again this year. I guess I'm not too surprised that it didn't come back.

I forgot to mention that I originally brought the rosemary in before the last frost, but it still died within a few weeks of that anyway. After it died, I put it back outside to save space in my apartment.

The oregano, chives, lemon balm, catnip, and tarragon were all perennials that had already been in my garden plot for several years, so I know they can survive the climate here. But it makes sense that placing them in pots makes it even colder. I hadn't considered that, but it makes sense.

I would have taken them all in over the winter, but I live in a tiny apartment and therefore they take up a lot of space. A few weeks ago we had a few sunny, warm days/weeks, and I thought spring would be coming, which was why I unearthed them and started watering. But shortly thereafter, we have had an unusually long cold snap (for the past 2 weeks since, essentially), which is why I moved them all indoors to avoid the freezing temps. They are all pushed near the west-facing windows, so they do get light along with the warmer temps.

Is the fact that my tarragon has been up for over a week now a good indication that the rest probably won't come up?

And I wonder what happened with the lemon balm, catnip, and chives...



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