Josh,
What's your coldest winter temp?

Another trick to encourage growth of plants staged in bonsai containers is keep them on the ground. The roots will search out of the drain hole, you can always tell when this happens due to the change in growth rate. When its time to show I cut root and clean up.

Hey, Keith!
I remember your variegated Jade that had roots escape into the ground....that was what convinced me to give this a go. I only wish I could keep them in the ground longer.

My coldest winter temp is around 15°F - although we only hit that maybe two or three times a winter. Seldom do we dip below 20°.

Too cold for the succulents, though.

Josh

May I ask what the pot is protecting the roots from?
Cold or critters?

I've only seen this done with mint to keep it from spreading.

Very nice aloe by the way! I have this one and love it.

Greenman, interesting gardening tool you have there. :)

This summer I "bedded out" some of my plants as best I could, into HUGE 15gallon pots. I definately see a size difference. Glad you had success as well.

There's no reason to "experiment" with in-ground growth - it works! Sometimes exceedingly so.

A buried plant+pot benefits from the cooler soil and free root run. And for the most part, succulent plants tolerate an end-of-season root pruning very well.

The only bad thing about it is figuring out how to un-earth your plants when they become massive.

x

When you bring your plants in, and dig them up, it seems to me that all the soil from the ground is rinsed out..Am I right?
Looks like they can handle this type of treatement better than most plants?

Please let me know, because I have a perfect spot in my yard to do same...

Do you think too, that it is not just the fact that roots have freedom to grow they grow so well in ground, but also from all the nutrients and microbes in the soil that they just love that containers don't supply? HUM

I wonder if my citrus and plumies would do same, go wild in the soil, in ground....

Unbelievable pictures..Great job Josh!