Beginner Gardening: Mandevilla?, 0 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
I have! I have! Raising my hand....I did it this past winter. I meant to tell you about it in my above post, but got side-tracked...

Last year, I bought one of the big, trellised Mandevillas. The one with the coarser-looking leaves. It grew and grew up my 8' trellis and bloomed nicely.
Now--I had read that you can cut it back to maybe 12" and bring it in to a dark, cool basement and leave it alone---with only scarce watering now and then. It not only survived--but was trying to grow leaves and new vines during the winter.

It has now been outside since 3rd week of April and is re-growing. I imagine it will take a bit of time before it grows to be as tall as it was and blooms. Hmmm...Maybe I should fertilize it? What do you think?????? (dumb question....)....

So, trio--I would say "YES" you can carry it over for the winter in a dormant state--but I would not cut it all the way down. Pick and choose the right place to cut the stems back to for new growth to come from.

Just went outside and took a picture of my Madevilla for you. NOT too bad for having slept through the Winter in a basement with no light!!

Gita