bringing plants in for the winter

[haili]

I just potted up 6 geraniums. They haven't been blooming much since it turned cooler but look really healthy. I cut them right back and gave them fresh soil and a good spraying with the hose. Are there any other plants that people like to keep indoors for next spring? I thought of lantana but maybe it's best to start off fresh next spring.

[CdnChelsea]

I usually take cutting from Coleus, put them in a container of water so they will grow roots and place them on a windowsill. It doesn't take long for the roots to appear. Then I plant them in some good potting soil so in the spring they will be ready for the great outdoors.

The Christmas cactus is put outside all summer in the shade and then brought inside before it gets too cold. After a few weeks, it starts to bloom and continues to bloom most of the winter.

I dug up the Cannas the other day and they will spend the winter in a dark, cool basement.

Pots of herbs were also brought inside.

[A Closet Canuck]

...............Are there any other plants that people like to keep indoors for next spring? I thought of lantana but maybe it's best to start off fresh next spring.

I've done one red and gold lantana plant for several years. It's in a pot on the porch in summer and stored in the basement in the same pot until spring. It has no artificial light in the basement but comes back nicely after I prune and repot it in the spring. I started doing this because I couldn't find the color I wanted at the nursery in spring.

Haili, do you put the potted up geraniums under grow lights for the winter?

[haili]

I might try that with the lanta Trish! I have one that changes from yellow and orange to fuschia and also a pale yellow one. It wouldn't matter if it got ugly in the basement.

I just put the geraniums on an old desk in front of a window in the den. In spring I open the window and put them out when it gets warm enough in spring. They look ugly for the first few weeks but the reward is huge plants that would cost a lot at the garden center and lovely summer blooms.

[A Closet Canuck]

......I just put the geraniums on an old desk in front of a window in the den. In spring I open the window and put them out when it gets warm enough in spring. They look ugly for the first few weeks but the reward is huge plants that would cost a lot at the garden center and lovely summer blooms.

Thanks, haili. I'm going to try that - the geraniums I want to save are the perfect color for my front porch plant. I hate having to try to find the exact same color in spring.

[Drought Smart Plants]

I grow lots of tender succulents, which go outside for the summer. I just brought them back in before they got a frost! Many of the Aloe species and hybrids I grow are just finishing their bloom cycle. They all look really great - now it's up to me to keep them alive until May or June when they can go back out. I keep them really dry, and they're under fluorescent tubes on a 12 hour cycle. The big thing is to make sure they don't bring any hitch hikers in with them...

[RubyTuesday49]

Every Fall I take cuttings from my geraniums. I cut them and let them air dry for a couple hrs then put them in pots of moist soil. I keep them moist for the first few weeks but throughout the winter, I just water them a bit. I used to put them in tiny little pots but they do tend to take their time getting up to speed in the Summer. This year I'm going to put cuttings into larger pots so they can get some size and transplanting won't be so traumatic. (I hope) - I'm also going to dig up some of the plants and put them into 4" pots just to see which works better. Last Fall I put a hanging fuchsia and a hanging pot with geraniums into my sunroom - which is unheated and some other things froze in there at some point. The fuchsia and geranium both survived and were blooming at the end of April!! I put them out at the end of May & they are both still blooming! I also put a few "spikes" (dracaena) into my husband's workshop (also unheated) for the winter (3 yrs)- they're now 6' tall!! I'm thinking about trying a cala lily next year - but here I would have to bring it into the house for the Winter.

[davefrombc]

Some cultivars of fuchsias will take a light frost.. I knew some folks in San Francisco, Cal. that had quite a large one growing in their front yard. I also saw some huge jade plants growing in sheltered parts of the city; so they can tale temps down to the first frost level too.

[RubyTuesday49]

I know what you mean Dave, some can take a bit of frost. The temp in the Sun Room got down to around -10 c - and some things froze so I sure didn't expect the fuchsia to survive that! It was just in a hanging basket as was the geranium. They are both still blooming like crazy - I may bring them in one of these days.

[RubyTuesday49]

Haili - do you take slips from your geraniums or do you dig up the plant and put it into a pot for the winter? I've always done slips but I often wonder if it would be better to take a mature plant - would it bloom quicker in the Spring, I wonder? Having said that, I just realized that I did keep a hanging planter with geraniums in it over the winter and of course it was blooming at the end of April. It was trying to bloom before but I clipped them off.