SHOW US YOUR "BRINGING INS"

Wellll----

I generally do not cut back my Brugs either--and NEVER "all the way down"!!! If you do that--it WILL re-grow, but you will have to wait again, forever, for it to "Y".

You can remove all the bigger leaves, if you want. Less mess to sweep up. I do not know IF leaving them on contributes in any way to "nurturing" it for next year.

If you want to take cuttings to root--you should do it now--not wait until Spring. Done now--they will root (fill the pot!) and be that much further ahead for you next year.
From my own experience--don't bother so much with all the growing-tip cuttings. They have not done well for me. Just get a sturdt stem portion (from above the "Y") dip it in some rooting hormone and stick it ALL the way down into a 5" or 6" pot. It will root in a flash. Keep it barely moist until you see new growth.

YES! I did cut my "Maya" back a lot last year--you all have seen the pictures), but that was out of necessity. It had grown so huge I had to in order to get it in the basement.
This year--it was futile--so I gave it away to the Arboretum. Same for my Rose Souvelons. Both are now gone! Sure would like to hear from them on what they thought about it and how they liked it.

Sally--I brought my baby Maya and also the tall, Charles Grimaldi inside and put them by the kitchen door--as it has a window, east light. Did this because both have buds on them. I really want to see if the CG really is a CG. it has ONE bud.
When these finish blooming--they will go downstairs. Might (??) keep the Baby Maya upstairs. I think she will have more buds....Can just smell my home when i come home from work???

Here they are.....

Took a few pictures of stuff I brought in. Not all--many things still have to find their permanent spots.

Here is my now HUGE Ric Rac cactus....This hook is away from the windows, but it is the only place I have for this big a HB.

Just below it is my HUGE Arboricols.
Long story--but I have owned this plant now since 1989 when it was a crooked little thing in a 5" pot.
I was then working for the grower (Edgertom Greenhouses) and this crooked little plant was not saleable--as it had been smushed against the plastic of the G-House.
I asked my boss if I could have it--and he said "sure!".

It has been totally cur back 3 times and always has re-grown with a vengeance. This Summer--it went really broad!
Getting too big!

How many of you remember these HB tension poles???? They are things from "yore"......really vintage!

I haven't used it in years! Keep it under the bed in my guest room. Thought I would bring it out to hang my Spiders on.

And--talking about "vintage"---how about these little shelves that you hang from your window-sash?
Can't find these anywhere anymore!
I have used these forever--keep all my little pots with rooting cuttings on it.
When I had more AV's--they lived on here.

Now--I have a GLUT of Spider babies.....TOOOOO many!!!!

I had one of those window hanging shelves at one time, then it didn't fit these windows, boo.
Just re read doc's intro statement about most of us have overdone what we thought we'd bring in--yep so true. Now I'm trying to actually PLACE these things. I was feeling OK about them being on the deck and out of imminent danger--todays so chilly I am coming to grips with reality, plus somebody mentioned chance of f-f-f-f-flakes on Saturday ?!?!?

WINTER HAS ARRIVED IN MONTOURSVILLE......snowing like the dickens. There is not and will not likely be a measurable snowfall. It is melting as fast as it is falling. There may be some pretty photographic opportunity in the AM. Who ever heard of snow accenting full fall leaf color?

Must be the warming trend. LOL

I guess the weather will change to the worst for us up north tonight. I went out this afternoon and pulled out (one handed) 6 geraniums, looped some panty hose strips around the stems near the roots and hung up in the basement.
I think this will be the last of the bring ins.

I mean to get mine in over the weekend. Snow!! I have to drive up to Penn State on Wednesday. Better check their forecast.

ACK! That is too early. The earliest I have seen, is snow that fell on my Norway Maple while it still had some leaves, but nearly Thanksgiving; still was funny to see snow on leaves
ladyg glad you mentioned that. I pulled my one geranium yesterday, and will just store it like you said. I'm glad I managed to get a few things dug, wrapped in newspaper and peat, AND actually brought in instead of forgetting them out inthe rain as is my wont, or usual habit. (the usual habit thing is a family joke that came up when somebody had wont for a vocab word to learn)
~~Ack it's in NJ too~~ I am staying right heah below tha Mason Dixon Line, ya'll

This message was edited Oct 15, 2009 8:27 PM

I can't post pic's as we are having computer issues. It's going into the shop this weekend and we will be off line for a few days. All the house plants are inside and the living room it looking like a jungle again. Gita's Brug is still blooming so it has a place in the living room for a while longer. When it starts to fade I will move it upstairs into the plant room for the winter and let it go dormant. I didn't try and take any cuttings from the coleus yet. I'll still fence sitting I know that I will have trouble keeping them going over winter but hate to just see them succumb to winter frost.
I still have the cannas and dahilias to dig they are blooming like crazy but they will have to come inside soon.

I need to bring in my Caladium bulbs, they are all in pots. No digging for me. The big pots I'll just cut the leaves off and pull out the bulbs and take them to the basement to dry. The small ones I'll bring in pot and all. Then deal with them later after I get this blanketty-blank cast off.
I brought in quit a few of my Alabama Sunset Coleus plants so I should be ok for next season. Also Chocolate drop coleus. It's a little shakey on the others, they did not take the drop in temps to well. I guess there are northern and southern coleus, lol.
Holly, hope you PC is well and comes back better then ever, we will miss you over the weekend.

I bring my caladiums in the same way. The pots by the porch just come inside bulbs and all, the bulbs from the window boxes and those really big pots by the front walkway get dug and stored in brown paper bags. Josh stopped by early yesterday as his job got rained out. Those big muscles came in real handy getting the last of the big pots up stairs. They are all sitting under my seed starting table except the two biggest they will have the bulbs pulled as those pots are just too big to come in. Ric moved them with a wheel barrow into the garage a couple of days ago. I have two big EE planted in the ground that I haven't dug yet and they are planted deep. I did bring in one of the chocolate drop coleus as it is potted in a small pot and didn't get real big. Maybe I can keep it going for the winter.

I am not done yet. Still have about a dozen plants to bring in. We live in a jungle during the winter months. We are blessed with a southern exposure, and even our bathroom is full of moisture loving plants, including orchids and ferns. We definitively need a bigger house!

Wow, Villiers. That's a nice big room for storing those large plants. LOL, and I'm having trouble making room for my Begonias. What is that neat sculpture on your wall?

That sculpture is an African mask. My hubby spent nine years flying the bush in Africa, and as a result we have some cool art.
There is NEVER enough room for storing plants. I usually beg guests to bring a plant back home with them. So far I have not lost any friend yet!

Great spot and beautiful plants Villiers. I too noticed the wall art. What an interesting thing to do. Were you in Africa as well? My plants don't do half bad at first as I have 20ft of floor to ceiling glass in the living area. Then about a couple of weeks before Christmas all but the biggest plants get moved into an upstairs bedroom for the holidays. Cramped quarters, lower light and some lack of attention always take their toll.

Enjoying looking at everyone's "bringing ins" :) I'll try to get some photos soon, I should be able to finally finish getting everything inside today - tonight's lows = 31 degrees!

Villiers, I envy your open space and those sunny windows! We have plenty of windows in the living room but now that all the trees have grown so tall around the house the easterly exposure only gives the plants a few hours of bright light in the morning and by Dec-Jan they're all begging for more sunshine :( Even though we chose to give away a few plants this year so we wouldn't have as much to bring inside, every year they grow bigger and bigger and we're still running out of room!

I have the space and the light but not the fortitude to limit my expansions or starting to many cuttings. Example...........did all the planning right. Determined the need for coleus to be eight or ten plants in 2010. Execution.......started fifty while looking around for possible additions one more a little more attractive. I'm up to an easy two hours a week to take care of them. Two hours takes me half a day to carry out due to health problems. I call it to muchitis. LOL

Yes we are lucky to have all this sun coming in. I just got my plumeria to finally bloom and I usually enjoy hibiscus blooms ( I have 6 plants) until mid january.
I am too lazy to start cuttings so I haul it all in. My hubby is not too happy about it.
To answer your question HollyAnn, I went to Africa a couple of times but did not bring back anything of value. I was not ready to settle down then!
February and March are the toughest months for my plants, probably due to low light levels and bugs. Most of them make it to grow another year because I keep forgetting to water them but they look pathetic when I put them back outdoors. They have been with me for so long, I can't bear to let them die and only take cuttings!

LOL doc! I finally got everything moved inside yesterday. Like I need any more plants... after reading about everyone taking cuttings of this and that, I ended up making at least six cuttings of my favorite annuals to try to "save" over the winter. I think I'm suffering from "too muchitis" :( I just couldn't help myself - with six cuttings you'd think I should be able to keep at least one alive! I'll try to get some pics in the next few days to show you my "jungle" :)

OK, it's all my doing that we didn't have a freeze here after all last night. I strapped on my headlamp (a new! brighter! one that DH just got me) at 1 am and went out to pick all the green tomatoes, figuring that since I was up I'd rather do it then and not run outside at 7 am trying to get them picked or rinsed off before the sun hit them.

I looked outside at dawn... no frost. DH woke me up anyway, though. He didn't notice the kitchen counter and dining table were already covered with green tomatoes. He did notice a lack of frost, but "you said to wake you when the sky started getting light." Sheesh.

So now I am short of sleep and trying to decide what to do first with my bounty! LOL i really did want green tomato chutney this year, so that's on the list, and I love fried green tomatoes also. End-of-season tomatoes seem to get enough cold nights to rob them of some of their flavor, so I'd just as soon finish by picking green ones. Just not usually at 1 am. LOL

Hmm, now y'all have me thinking... maybe I'll try to take some basil cuttings this year. I've got a couple of really neat red salvia, wonder if they'd overwinter as cuttings or little plants under lights? I brought in a couple of pots of coleus last night, so I'll be taking some cuttings from them also. :-)

But I don't have a wide angle lens or a room that's wide enough...yes, folks this is fear you hear....ugh. Kitchen table is already covered..."we've only just begun...."

Jill---

I work with a woman who is a real "frontier type"----She cans and fishes and hunts and dives and crabs and all that.
She and her husband bought 33 acres of woodland in VA (so they could hunt on their own property) and built a lovely home on it-- an that is where she gardens. She does not get to go there except on weekends--until he retires. He is a longshoreman--and it is good money, so who knows when?

I have shared many a plant and seeds with her--so we have a reciprocal relationship. Now and then she brings me some fresh fish or something she has canned....
The below recipe uses up Green Tomatoes. It is SO delicious! Sweet and juicy! I just eat it right out of the jar.
Hope you will give this a try.


INDIAN PICKLE—from Susan Lamar (@ HD).
(good way to use up green tomatoes at the end of the season),

4lbs green Tomatoes
4lbs ripe Tomatoes—peeled
3 med. Onions
3 Sweet Red Peppers—seeded
3 Green Peppers--seeded
1-lg. Cucumber
7cups chopped Celery
2/3cup Salt
3pts. Vinegar
3lbs Brown Sugar
1 Tbs. Dry, ground Mustard
1tsp. White Pepper

Chop all veggies coarsely—sprinkle with the salt and
Let stand 12hrs.—or overnight

Drain well, discarding the collected liquid.
Place in a big pot and add remaining ingredients

Bring to a boil and simmer slowly (about 30 min.) stirring occasionally

Pour into hot glass jars. Adjust lids. (?)
Process in hot boiling water (212*) for 5 minutes.

Makes about 6 pints.

I just picked all my green tomatoes too. Have about 7-8lbs of them.
Not sure what i will do??????? Canning/preserving is NOT my thing! BUT--I might try this one!

Gita

That does sound good, Gita! I'm not a huge celery fan, but I think I could probably substitute more tomatoes & peppers instead (celery isn't going to add acidity or anything, so substitutions should be safe).

I've used the recipe for apple chutney in Joy of Cooking, substituting green tomatoes (which the recipe says you can do) and adding extra diced candied ginger & additional garlic.

If you like fried green tomatoes, I think you can slice and freeze fresh green tomatoes to fry later... have to find directions in the recipe forum, can't remember if I'm supposed to batter or flour them before freezing.

Good recipe Gita. Why don't you copy and paste it over onto the fall recipe thread that Lady has started.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1043752/

I finally got some photos yesterday. It's deceiving because it looks so bright inside but in fact the light is so dim in here the flash kept going off :(

First, this is where it all started, the front entry. Of course what you don't see is all the plants I had to bring inside from the back deck!

The living room...

Oops, forgot to show you the pots to the left of the front entry. They used to be grouped together with the other containers but they grew so much over the summer I had to move them "into" the gardens to give them more room!

The Zingibar on the floor in front usually goes completely dormant by January so I'll have more room in this corner. Last year these bookcases were in the middle of the living room but we moved them to this corner. One, because now the living room doesn't look as crowded, and Two, because the plants have better light in this corner :)

A little closer look in the corner of the living room. The Tree Fern is the one I bought in Florida a couple of years ago. I couldn't resist the $14.99 price tag and carried it back on the plane! I bumped it to a larger pot this year and it's probably doubled in size since then but it was still pretty darned big for a "carry on" :)

To the left of the Tree Fern, I managed to squeeze in the Begonia I brought back from Maine this summer - it's quadrupled since I bought it!

Continuing to the left, a couple more Begonias. The one on the right is usually almost black but the flash going off makes it look blue!

And two more Begonias on the back of the couch.

In the corner by the fireplace is a container I made three years ago. This what it looked then...unfortunately a few of my favorite plants in it died :(

The good news is that I almost lost the Fern that's planted in it last winter but it's made a comeback this summer and I added a few more plants as fillers :)

I patched two photos together to show you the plants on our coffee table. 'Little Brother Montgomery' Begonia in the middle with the pots of succulents I potted up from the deck planter to save for the winter. I just couldn't bear to let them die!

A few more I couldn't let die...I was running out of room and had to put them on the corner of the dining room table!

On the other side of the table, the Jade plant fills the corner!