Annie6078OH

Hello,

I'm in Zone 6a and had your same dilemma last year. Here's what I did:

I allowed the leaves to get a freeze or two on it to send a message to the corm that it's time to go dormant. Then I removed the leaves, cut off a good bit of the p-stem and built a protective cage using 4 tall stakes posted at the 'corners' of the rootball wrapped with chicken wire, which I then packed well with straw, including several inches over the top of the p-stem. I then covered the entire structure with a plastic tarp, splaying the bottom part of it out as wide as possible past the base of the cage, using heavy rocks, etc. to keep it held down. Last, I wrapped the whole tarped cage tightly with a jute rope. Come spring, I removed everything and, although everything to ground level was mostly dessicated, I could still feel a good solid mass at the base. From that, 3 pups sprouted that grew tall and healthy over the year.

Good luck!
Annie