A friend in Montreal sent me some photos of his outdoor setup. According to Pascal, he lives in Zone 5b and he endured temperatures around -30C all winter. Intead of mulching this year, he decided to pile snow on his bogs. He lost a few plants but not many. He also noted that it was a slow start this year, cold and a lot of rain.
As you can see, his plants look to be doing well!
CJM
Zone 6b 
Alright, well, I’ll definitely try some non-native plants in the ground this year. Our lowest temperatures were -27 F (~-33). I’m wondering if they’ll do as well as your friend’s?
I am sure they will do just fine. Once they are fozen solid, ice pretty much stays around 0C, If you have a good layer of mulch or snow protect them from drying winter wind, you should be OK. I would start small, a small kids poll with 3 or 4 plants that you would not mind if they died. If that works… add a few more! 🙂
Thanks for the pics, similar setting except for the grass around it. I am surprised about covering with snow. But they seem to have done well.
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Snow is the best insulator out there! As long as there is snow… I am very relaxed over the winter months… I panic when its gets really cold and there is no snow on the ground… that is scary. granted… we had no snow all of January, and temps diped into the high minus teens and low minus twenties and all is well!
In the beginimg of january there was alot of snow already but a couple rainy days came. The snow entirely melted. The next day there was an other snow storm and then i added a huge mountain of snow on the bogs.(~5feet). Next day was -37c. If there was no snow…..next winter ill mulch.
The “grass” around the bogs is thyme.
Thanx for sharing your friend’s pix. Looks gr8. Definitely will encourage my friends in cold areas to use your and your friend’s methods
Lois