Boy!!!! Seems like a lot to go through for the 'greatest carefree perennial'? Why don't you just plant them in the ground where they are to grow? You can mulch them if it is really hot and make sure they don't dry out. Pots????? I can't imagine they would do better in pots than in the soil where they can stretch out and find the moisture and nutrients they need. Just my thoughts, but I wonder why everyone makes growing daylilies so difficult. I plant, hybridize, never ever water or fertilize (except what the chickens contribute as they wander through) and have lovely healthy gardens not overly bothered by pests of any nature. Sometimes I think people really want to make life a problem or perhaps some people just don't realize that it is supposed to be simple. Nature cares for its own as long as you don't spray or use synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides ETC. ETC. ETC. The good bugs will come if there is something to eat.

That's me, GardenLad, a mere child. I am old enough to drink, just barely. LOL However, I figure control of the rumtopf will be passed down to my generation soon enough. Gourmet magazine, huh? Wow, the humble rumtopf has been elevated in stature. As for the history in my family, I am told that the very first rumtopf was the result of my Aunt LulaBelle marrying a man from Germany. He was her first husband (number 5 just died last year!) and it was a tradition for his family to have a rumtopf yearly. He taught Aunt Lulabelle and a family tradition was born. Being heathen Michiganders we have used everything from vodka to brandy to rum, but the basic construction of the rumtopf is the same: fruit, sugar, booze. As for the ingredients, we just add whatever is ripe and we can get our hands on that might be compatible with the rest of the "pot". Annie

I did not read all the responses to the original post, so I am sorry if I repeat some already posted thoughts. OK, Hosta (or Hostas, see thread on Hosta pluraldom earlier posted, teehee). Here, mixed experiences. For many years now we took all the potted Hostas to a 'wintering' area, packed them in close (note: Zone 4 here), surrounded them with straw bails. The idea was to create a stable, temperature 'mass' to protect them over the winter. As we have about 200 varieties in pots, and at an average of about 5 pots per variety, this was a very time and energy intensive project, both in Fall putting them 'down' and then again in Spring bringing them back out. Last Fall I broke my foot and ankle, so all the usual Fall projects went undone. My wife and I discussed this problem. I said, 'Hey, we have, for several years now, left potted Hostas in a few 'back' areas for evaluation, quarantine, and other reasons, and they've, by and large, lived, so let's relax and leave all the several hundred ones out exposed this winter, take a chance. Worked! So many hours and stress relieved, woohoo! Then again, this past winter was very mild, even here in Z4. Shifting gears: Every so often m'lady plants Hostas in an un-drain holed pot. WHOOPS, not good. You are now aware. Prepare various drill bits to give drainage. Shift to 3rd gear: Every so often we've, in a hurry or lazy, dropped 'potted' hostas into holes in the garden. Most of the time we've gotten away with that. However, . . . just last week I had red-flagged (I bought some Home Depot 'Red Flags') a Hosta that was exhibiting all of the classic 'root bound' symptoms. I assumed it was our usual problem of Red Pine (almost as bad as Maple) tree root strangulation. WRONG! Turned out this time it was a Hosta that had been 'dropped' into the garden in a pot, and it root-bound itself. No wonder, it was a big monster type Hosta (one of the several dozen S&S children) and was only in a nursery gallon pot, yikes! We've gotten away with this before because the pot planted Hosta just grew out the bottom and went on to thrive, but this time we were burnt. I could go on with another gear, but by now I'm sure you get the picture: potted Hosta is a whole 'nother discussion, and many folk will tell varied stories, or so I hope! Thanks for re-starting an always interesting story! Potted plants are what some folk have to do, others choose to do, and so many other points in between. As alway, we wish you all the best with your green thumbs, hh

I also don't understand why they make black pots. I have some plants in pots that still need to be planted, and I've noticed everything in black pots is starting to look stressed. It's because earlier on their roots were small and further away from the plastic, shielded by the potting mix, but now their roots are filling the pots, and getting heated all the time. I'm not going to be using black pots in the future., and I really hate that they only usually make the starting/germination trays in black. Like the 72 cell trays. I've lost a lot of expensive seeds because I put the cell trays outside for a little while, and they got cooked. There's just that tiny amount of soil in every cell, so they heat up instantly when the black plastic heats up. I'm not sure it helps, but I always wet my soil mix before putting it in the pots. I squeeze the moistened mix to make sure that the mix has completely absorbed the water. I don't have any issues with water not absorbing.