Overwintering Plants, What's Your Setup?

Well I am not much help Scott as I don’t overwinter many … just drag the ones I want to keep inside, find a nice sunny spot, repot them (after they adjust) and try to keep them living through the winter. But I am sure that is not what you are asking here … this will be an interesting thread to read, I look forward to hearing what everyone does.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Not sure what I will be doing with some of mine Scott.But one thing for sure is that the Hibiscus will be living in the sunroom for the winter.And tubers in the basement.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Sadly, don’t have a sunroom here. Though I will be extending the roof out back and making a screened porch for beside the 200/yo Pecan tree.

I figure I’ll be setting up a rack with some florescents behind it with grow lights in them.

I’m going to pick up a pump for the old well in a few and see about getting it back online for irrigation and handling the plants overwintering.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Sounds like a plan … you get snow right??

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

We get one snow a year, not much.. Last year we actually got a snow enough to make a snow man.

I was thrilled.. Why, when I was young I used to walk a quarter mile to the bus stop through 4 foot snow just to get to school.. Then I got a parking pass and just drove through it.. :)

Here though… Not so much.. We DO get some healthy ice storms from time to time though.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Guess no one else overwinters plants? No Boston Ferns? Geraniums? Herbs? Etc?

How perplexing.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

I’m working on an overwintering project now. I’ll post it soon.

-- jroot

My Boston Ferns don’t go outside … and because they don’t need a lot of light, they can grow in many places. Just remember to mist their leaves, as well as water. I also fertilize regularly.

Don’t be alarmed if you do transplant them into a bigger pot if you loose a lot of the leaves. They hate being transplanted … they will perk up soon enough. At least that is what I have found.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b

Does anyone know how to split up an aloe plant? Mine has been outside all summer, and it is so huge, I need to split it up, make some new plants to give to friends (wink) and still have a mother plant for us for indoor enjoyment.

I have some thoughts about it, but if someone has already done it, then I will certainly listen. Otherwise, it is hack and chop, and plant, and maybe grow.

-- jroot

Your aloe probably has several babies ready and eager to be on their own. They propogatae much like a hen- and-chick, so just separate the babies and give them their own spaces to grow.

-- the day you quit learning is the day you quit living.

Okay. I’ll do that. Thanks, Dini.

To get back to the original post though. My geraniums I pull up. I cut off the tops for cuttings and make new plants. I trim the roots leaving only the finer roots, and then pot the cut off plants and place under lights. Before long, I have new plants which start blooming indoors.

Some of my brugmansia and my oleander and lantana go into the cold cellar. They go dormant and get a slight watering every three weeks or so. These will come out again in late March / early April. Some of my brugs ( one gets to know their peculiarities and personalities) have to go into the house and placed near a window and kept going all winter. I also take cuttings …. just in case …. and start new plants. These can be traded in the spring if the parents survive the winter ( which they usually do ), but one can always increase one’s plant stock if one has the cuttings to trade.

My dahlias are pulled. I cut off the tops, and clean the tubers with water, split where possible, and then dust with a bulb dust ( fungicide). These are then labelled, wrapped in recycled grocery store bags, and placed into cardboard boxes and also put into the cold cellar. Similarly I do this with gladiolas.

Most of my perennials are cut down in the fall to about 8 inches. There is enough stock left to trap the snow for insulation, and I don’t have a soggy mess to clean up in the spring.

My ornamental grasses I leave as they are until early March when I cut them back.

Oh, I just saw the words “potted plants”. I guess I should read better but I am still recouperating from our trip. Most potted plants come indoors. If they are young perennials which I have started in plastic pots, I have in the past buried the entire pot into the ground. They will survive quite nicely. Any ceramic pots though, must come indoors. Quite a few of my brugs are in pots which, as I have already said, go dormant in my cold cellar.

-- jroot