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I have a small juniper semi-cascade that I've had well over 20 years. I don't have many bonsais and I'm very attached to this tree.

When I lived in Upstate New York, I would overwinter it by burying it up to the trunk in the compost pile. Snow would cover it too and even though it gets very cold there, it would be fine when I dug it up in the spring.

Seven years ago, we moved to the Seattle area. Winter temperatures are usually right around freezing or above, with maybe one or two really cold days in a winter. So I got in the habit of just leaving it on the deck and bringing it in overnight on the rare occasions when the temperature would drop below 25 degrees F.

This year, all of a sudden, there's a week-long cold snap. I brought it in as usual the first cold night, not realizing how long the cold would last. It's now been in (right up against a window where it's at least cool) for two nights. High today is 21F. Lows for the next five nights are low 20s down to mid teens.

I'm concerned staying indoors for a whole week might interrupt its dormancy. My options are:

1. Leave it by the window for the week. It's probably in the low 60s there.

2. Put it outside during the warmest part of the day starting tomorrow and bring it in at night. But that's a lot of big temperature swings, it seems to me.

3. I can still bury it in the compost (I think) and add on some snow as we've had a pretty good snowfall. However, once again the high today is still quite low.

My instinct is to bury it during the warmest part of the day tomorrow when it will be about 30F. But I'm concerned about shocking it after three nights indoors. And maybe a week of indoors won't be enough to wake it from dormancy and I should just leave it where it is?

I would love some expert advice about this.

Thank you,

Minda

My advice is to put it outside straight away and relax. Junipers dont need protection from -10c night temperatures. My junipers made it throu 6 weeks of constant below -10c last winter. And came out in full health and vigour.

If you have a lot of dry winds its good to protect them from the wind. Nothing else, dont worry.

Thank you. I guess I'll do that. Once I bury it in compost, I know it can take as much cold as we're going to have and more. I'm a bit concerned, though, about shocking it since it's been indoors for two nights.

Am I wrong to be worried about that?

I am not sure what two days indoors can do with the tree. I never keep trees indoors. However I am sure that if it stays indoors it will die, no doubt about that. I have seen hundreds of dieing "indoor junipers" in this forum.

My junipers have had solid frozen soil the last three weeks now. I am a little worried about the pots since it froze when the soil was quite wet. Not at all worried about the trees.

A night or two once or twice a winter doesn't seem to have hurt it but I'm sure you're right that it's not great for the tree. So I took your advice and buried it nicely in compost and snow today. Fingers crossed that coming from indoors wasn't too big a shock. Thanks for convincing me it was the right thing to do.