I am already thinking ahead to next spring. I have a t. fortunei in a 7 gallon pot that I've had for about one month now. My plan is to plant it in ground probably the beginning of April. But I have a history of not being able to keep them alive. Over the past few years I have lost 4 trachys - 3 in ground and a 15 gallon that never made it through the summer. I had two small ones (est. 2-3 years from seed) that I failed to protect during one cold winter and they spear pulled turned brown and died. I know what happend to them and from now on will protect the first few years from cold and rain. I had another probably a 5 gallon that I lost about 6 weeks after planting out one summer. Don't know what happend to that one or the one in the 15 gallon box. What are the potential pitfalls of planting out trachys?