Overwintering --How to?

It varies by plant.
Some, like dahlias and gladioli, you cut back, dig up, dry and clean the root, and store it in a dark dry place (basement).
Some, like my caladium, you dig up the plant, pot it (if you have a pot big enough) and keep in a spot that will continue to give it it’s preferred light.

Other, more experienced folk will have to explain how to overwinter other plants.

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

I hear ya Robin.( lol ) I have never overwintered either and I brought my Hibiscus in last week and am watching it slowly lose all it’s leaves.On the good side though it is still blooming.Hope it makes it through the winter.

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

Bon, it is not unusual for the Hibiscus to loose some of it’s leaves when brought in. Just be sure not to over-water it. Cuz the light is not as strong inside. It could go two weeks possibly without watering it. Just check the soil. Once established inside, just treat it like you would any of your other house plants. Oh, it will want some “food” shortly … :-)

I brought in my Mock Rose in the decopauged stock pot and have it in a sunny spot … it’s current pot seems large enough, so am not transplanting it. It seems to be doing okay, as it is still blooming. Although it is quite a “dirty plant” ... dropping seeds EVERYWHERE. Didn’t notice that outside (with the wind playing “maid”) LOL!!!!

-- "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

GramT….Thanks for the tips I will give it a good feed this week.Then I won’t water it for a week.Is that ok?
Did you say SEEDS ? There ya go.Another one to try next year. ( lol )
Oh ya,I only have one other house plant.My african violet.I used to have a house full but gave them all away when I moved.I don’t miss them or the mess either. ha ha ha

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

As long as you periodically check your soil. You could possibly go longer than a week in-between watering Bon. A good rule of thumb is to put your finger in the dirt up to your first joint, if it is dry, then you need to water. Just because the top of your soil is dry doesn’t necessarily mean you need to water … you want moist soil, not soaking wet soil … if that makes sense.

Example: I give my Variegated Ficus a good watering with “food” and usually “she” can go almost 3 weeks without me watering again. She is in a filtered, bright light and stays indoors. Now granted I check “her” weekly to make sure she is getting what she needs … but that is the average.

Some of my indoor plants I need to water weekly (Boston Fern), others can go two weeks sometimes a bit longer if they are not in a hot, direct sunlight.

Also once the furnace kicks in, it gets dryer in your home, so you need to watch how your soil might react to that extra dryness. Good idea to not place your plants to close to heat/air conditioning vents. The hot and cold air blowing is really hard on them.

Hope this helps and makes sense. Good luck with the Hibiscus!! Give it some time to adjust … it can be quite a shock to plants moving them indoors. And some plants (like my Ficus) hate to be moved period. LOL!!!

As for the Mock Rose seeds … our new “tender” from Italy mentioned that seeds were dropping off her plants so I am hopeful that is what is going on with mine! Be fantastic to get seeds from this particular plant.

-- "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

GrandmaT, you must have some HUGE pots to water so sparcely. True, the larger the pot, the more you can water less frequently. Maybe you keep your home cooler than I do. ( 68F )

My ficus needs to be watered once a week, although not too much.

My two hibiscus trees ( 25 years old ) and my younger plants get watered every 4 days. The same for my geraniums. You are right about the hibiscus. It will drop its leaves while it adjusts to new light conditions. Mine form larger leaves inside than when they are outside. It is neat to see how these living organisms adjust to their living conditions…. just like we do.

You are absolutely right about the plants needing more water when the furnace is on, as it does dry the air out, and more water evaporates and is transpired.

-- jroot

Thank you GramT and Jroot.I appreciate all your tips. Question
I have brought all my tubers and corms and bulbs in for the winter.I rinsed them off and they are now drying off. I read that putting them in peat moss and a ziplock bag and storing in cool place is all I have to do.Is it better to use ziplocks or paper bags? Am I doing this the right way?

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

I find that peat moss will dry out the tubers, so I do not use it at all.

What I do is clean them; dust them well with a bulb dust ( fungicide ) (some people use a mild bleach solution); label them; wrap them loosely in recycled grocery store bags ( paper or plastic ), put them into a cardboard box; and put them into my cold cellar ( which does not freeze ).

I find the canna lilies don’t like it as cold as the dahlias or glads, so I keep them in my wine cellar at about 50 degrees. They don’t have to be cleaned as well.

Good luck.

-- jroot

Keep the info coming! I am learning a lot. What about fig trees? Does anyone bring those inside?
Robin

-- Robin282, Zone 7, SE Coast of MA, USA

I had a lovely fig tree until last year when I ran out of room inside, so I gave it to a friend. We used to get two crops off of it. I am in zone 5, which is a lot colder than zone 7. Hopefully someone else, who has figs, will jump into the discussion. Are you north of Kentucky? I believe we have a member who has figs from that area.

Mine was in a large pot, so I could bring it in. I pruned the leaves off of it; sprayed the stems with water; put an insecticide spray on it ( including the top of the soil); let it sit for a couple of hours outside for the insecticide to do its thing; then sprayed it with water again and let it dry off in my garage. Then I carried it down to the cold cellar where it went to sleep for the winter. I only watered it about a cup of water every 3-4 weeks,- just enough to keep her alive. In early May, I brought her back up to the garage, and put it in and outside depending upon the temperature. It doesn’t like frost. Because of the early start and the avoidance of early frost, that is why I could get two crops off of it.

-- jroot

Great info!
Thanks!
Robin

-- Robin282, Zone 7, SE Coast of MA, USA

Thanks Jroot.I will keep my eye on them every few weeks to make sure they don’t dry out too much.I don’t have a cold cellar and the basement is around 60F all winter.Will they still survive?

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

Yah, my ficus is in a pretty large basket … but even when it was smaller it could go at least 7 -10 days without new watering. Maybe how we water is different. I tend to give them a good soaking and then let them be for a while. Kind of mimicing “mother nature” with a good soaking rain and then nice weather for a while – LOL!!!! Been growing Ficus for near 20 years now … they are one of my favorite indoor plants/trees!!! Why I was so excited last winter when I discovered this variegated beauty.

The last braided Ficus got just too big for this house … nowhere to put it, so had to give it away. Darn near broke my heart!! Gosh, she was one gorgeous tree!!!

-- "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

My ficus is variegated also. I chopped mine way back when it got too tall for the room. It was upset for a few days, but then sprung right back to its happy state. Did you know that you can actually root the pieces that you cut off? More ficus plants to trade = more plants for your garden or home. :)

Same thing for the fig tree also. BTW, the more I cut the fig back, the more it sent out multiple branches, and the more figs I got. Win! Win!

I also trim my hibiscus back severely in the fall. Now I have a very full ball of branches, and a very full ball of single red flowers when it blooms. I will be doing the same with a 3 year old double yellow/salmon coloured hibiscus which bloomed well this summer, and grew like crazy. I figure if I cut it back, it will also send out more branches, and I should get a lot more blooms next year.

-- jroot

No, I was not aware of that jroot; for the Ficus. I was so afraid of killing this poor tree that I had grown from “nothing” and had for y-e-a-r-s that I couldn’t bear to experiment with it … so hence gave it to a good home. At our old home I had so much room for my many Ficus’ ... they could get HUGE and did. When we moved I kept the “youngest” one and ended up giving it away anyway, as I said above.

This is sooooo exciting!!! Where are you cutting? Would LOVE to root more from this Variegated Ficus cuz they are so darn hard to find around here. They are a beautiful thing are they not!!!!

Man I love this site and how with everyone sharing and just talking you learn sooooo much!!!

-- "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

And one more question if I may, jroot … how are you rooting the Ficus cuttings?

-- "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

After cutting, I put it in water for a few days, then put on some rooting hormone, stick it into some potting soil with good drainage, water well, set it into a bright but not direct sun location, and then leave it alone, – not watering until the soil is dry. I found it roots fairly well. Win some, lose some. That is the case with rooting anyway.

-- jroot

Thank you … I appreciate you sharing your wisdom!! Gonna try this!! And yah, rooting is always a gamble, but fun none-the-less.

-- "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

I would love variegated cuttings next time you cut. I could trade something.
Robin

-- Robin282, Zone 7, SE Coast of MA, USA

I will definitely keep you in mind Robin … :-)

-- "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

Up here in southern Ontario it is still too harsh for figs to winter, but what they do is to dig a trench beside the tree, root rpune on one side and bendit over into the trench, cover it with soil and then cover that with mulch after the earth hasas frozen. In the spring they disinter it, stake it and let it grow again, but the next year they dig the trench in another direction. It seems to work.

Anne

-- Anne, Chatham, Ont

I didn’t know that .. fascinating

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I have also heard of this method for winterizing “tree roses” ...

-- "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

I used to have tree roses, and would dig a trench, dig up the entire plant, and bury it horizontallly. In the spring, I would dig it up, replant it and away it would go. Worked for me, until I got tired of digging. LOL

-- jroot

Well that was the method they recommended when I planted my tree roses … but I decided to see how they would just “winter” upright and staked. So far so good, two years later.

-- "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

Last year, I tried mine upright and staked. I no longer have tree roses … succombed to the Cold Canadian Wind.

-- jroot

Maybe me being a bit more “south” helped … when I bought those tree roses I had no idea that was the “wintering” they would recommend. And with my physical limitations, it was something that I could just not handle year after year; so it was kind of “okay guys you are on your own, I really hope you make it” and fortunately for me they did. I think burying them horizontally is probably the best way to take care of those trees for the winter.

-- "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