I have two small hydrangea plants in a combo pot (with geraniums) from my local garden center. Cool weather is upon us here in Central Virginia. I'm going back and forth between setting the hydrangeas in the ground or in giant pots, one on either side of the garage door.
Do they lose their leaves in the winter? I really want winter color like pansies in those pots. Will the roots freeze? We could get into the twenty area of temps, sometimes lower. Our soil is terrible red clay. We live in a gated community where the gardeners pile the mulch too high, so we could mix it into the holes for the hydrangeas in the ground.
Yet, I can picture beautifully large blooms beside the garage doors if the plants do well in the pots. I came to this idea because I just set burgandy wedding train coleus in their own small pots on top of the soil in the giant pot. It was supposed to be a temporary thing. Soon the coleus tripled in size. The roots grew out of the little pots and down into the giant pots. They will die very soon when we get into the forties. That's when I began to wonder if the hydrangea would do the same if I make the giant pots their home.
