[barbarella]

I put some french tarragon plants in last summer and they are looking pretty dead now.  Has anyone successfully overwintered them? Would they survive in a normal winter in the south west of England?   If so, did you mulch them? as I wish I had done that now.   Would it have worked if I had dug them up and overwintered them in my frost free greenhouse maybe?  Or could I have taken cuttings?

I would like to know whether to buy new plants and try again.  They aren't cheap, but unfortunately you can't grow them from seed.

[arugula]

I have had them overwinter here, more by accident than design.

[realfood]

Unless you are in a very mild part of the UK, French tarragon is not hardy. They would not survive even in a greenhouse in Glasgow during the last three Winters. Russian tarragon, not such a good flavour, may be hardy. Russian can be grown from seed.

[barbarella]

Russian tarragon, not such a good flavour, may be hardy. Russian can be grown from seed.

I really want to stick to French tarragon - as you say it has a better flavour.  I have a heater on a thermostat in the greenhouse so it doesn't go below 5 degrees, so I may try overwintering a couple of plants under cover next time, and maybe mulching the rest under straw outside and see what happens.

[Trillium]

True, tasty French tarragon can be propagated only by cuttings, hence the higher purchase costs. So definitely take cuttings when you can because its not very hardy unless you're in a mediterranean climate.

The icky Russian tarragon comes from seeds.

[savbo]

remember tarragon dies back in the winter. I've overwintered it in an unheated greenhouse but with some insulation, and it's just starting to grow back from the roots now..

In future I'll probably bring a little indoors over the winter as an insurance....

sav

[Ice]

Mine survived last years winter in the open ground.  It died back and I thought it was dead, but it reappeared and grew well. 

[Mrs Bee]

I keep mine in a large herb pot on the patio next to the house and it has survived the past hard winters.
It comes up year after year.

[barbarella]

That's great - maybe I will leave my dead looking tarragon plants for a while and see what happens.

[Ice]

I'll check mine in the morning and see if a second winter has harmed it at all.  Mind you, it's now enormous and needs splitting.

[barbarella]

I've just come back from a tidy at the allotment (with such glorious spring weather, who could resist?)and I had a really good look around the base of my tarragon plants.  The biggest one has clear signs of little nubby shoots at ground level and the suspicion of one or two around the others so I'm mightily cheered up

[evie2]

I didn't realise french tarragon wasn't very hardy, I've had it survive over winter both in Scotland and England but I'm a bit of a haphazard gardener

[Puenktchen]

Mine survived as well last winter even with -17 C in December, I had just put a bit of fleece over it.

[mumofstig]

biggest one has clear signs of little nubby shoots at ground level and the suspicion of one or two around the others so I'm mightily cheered up

Good news indeed -if Argyllie had them overwinter, up there, then I would expect them to in Somerset  

[compostqueen]

I checked mine this morning, in the unheated greenhouse, and as normal for this time of year it looks very dead.  It will rise phoenix-like from the ashes when the weather warms up. You can then trim off the dead thatch and your plant will grow away happily.  You could check the pot and pot it on if needs be