Smashed Stachyurus salicifolia - can I bring it inside?

Another tale of weather woes in Vancouver. My back yard is slow to defrost, and I was looking in on my little Stachyurus. It's in the ground in its pot close to its ultimate location in the garden, and most of the branches snapped off.

Could I, without jeopardizing the shrub, move it indoors under a grow light til spring, to help it grow and recover, or should I plant it in early spring as-is, and just fill in the bed around it?

Many thanks for any help -

 

I'd leave well alone, and it'll likely recover with new growth in the spring. Don't try to force it into any early growth.

 

Unless the bed was very well aerated (like pure sand or sawdust) the shrub should not have been overwintered through the rainy season outdoors in a pot. Be sure to wash the old potting medium off the roots and spread them out at planting time.

Fall is the best time to plant out hardy stock, much better than spring. Marginal or outright tender subjects go out in spring because they could or definitely would die if planted in fall.

Since it was outdoors your shrub received no benefit from being left until spring before being planted.

 

Ow, Ron B, the incompleteness of my ancestral education is showing. I meant to get the Stachyurus in the bed itself in fall, but the landscaper who was supposed to help me dig out the old, diseased Rhodi got behind, and then we got that string of snowstorms...

I didn't have to much trouble with things overwintering last year, but the weather was quite different. All my Evergreens look embattled - even the long planted ones.

We'll see if the shrub survives, here's hoping, and I shall print off your guidelines for future use...

 

I would not attempt to bring the plant inside. You do not want to 'grow' it indoors, but simply 'hold' it indoors. But why bring inside? If it's dead its dead, if not then leave it be and let it break dormancy in the spring. If brought indoors, I'd place it in a garage, you want it to remain dormant till spring. Do not use lights.