OK, so I'm bombarding you with pictures. It's finally raining here and I have all this time on my hands.
This is Plumbago auriculata.
Plumbago
Question: Do you hold your plumbago over or can you leave it in the ground? I know I have to do something with mine and didn't know if I should pot it up or just buy new next year.
I think it has a min temp of about 40F so it is coming in. It's in a pot and is about 5 feet in each direction tied to a grid. I will be cutting it way back though, they don't mind.
I have this one as well...love the blue! It actually only
blooms on new wood so will take alot of neglect over the
winter and a good trim come spring.
I kinda wondered if your computer/server had died there for a while. Now I know you were spending every available minute watering. Nice that mother nature gave you a break so we could catch up on your wonderful garden.
Lilypon What sort of storage do you use to overwinter these things? Have you successfully overwintered brugs? Looking for moral support. Not really sure I'm equipped for the challenge of my geography.
You can do it Lynn, it's easy. And Pam has been doing it in Moose Jaw for a couple of years.
I've done it two ways:
1.Take them down to the basement and let them die back
to the ground-not a good method since our growing season
is so short that the plant will never develop blooms in
time.
2.Give up house space and park them in front of a sunny
window=they look horrible when all the leaves have dropped.
I've decorated the branches with the appropriate holiday
decorations in hopes that they will blend in (not).
They will bloom end of July/mid August with this method.
I've had three flushes now with Frost Pink.
Another option is to take a few cuttings above and below
the Y and let the mother plant go...the above the Y
cuttings will produce flowers very early in the year
and the below the Y cutting will still grow into a tree
that, given the right year, will supply you with more
above the Y cuttings. Liz taught me that the above the
Y cuttings will grow to monster heights if overwintered
for many years-better to start off with new above the
Y cuttings every season and let last years die. I could
go on but Liz doesn't get lost in this...I still do!
Liz, I kept mine in a pot in the 10C GH last year, cut back almost to the soil level and it is now flowering in the next door neighbours yard.
Plumbago is easy from cuttings, too and in the garage dormant over winter.
Think I'll dig my plumbago and get it potted. We still have three or four weeks before frost and then maybe let it go dormant in the basement or keep it under light. Thanks for the info.
I just potted my plumbago. I'm glad they can be wintered over. Do I just keep watering it when I bring it in? It will be in the basement by a window or should I just give it barely enough water so the soil doesn't harden?
I kept watering my Plumbago. It continued to bloom for
a couple of months and when it stopped blooming I think
I forgot to water it as often as I had been. It suffered
some die back so before I put it out I gave it a severe
trim. This summer it was covered in blooms, I was really
impressed with it.
totally off thread topic Lilypon but what do you do about bugs when you bring your stuff indoors? It seems to me that they are happy for 6 weeks or so and then its like I come home to a house invasion. I battle and battle and finally throw the thing out. Since I don't want to put my seedlings at risk, I've kind of decided dormant in segregation in the garage is the only safe way to go. PS I'm really negative about systemics and other nasties.
I mist them, I spray dish soap/ammonia mix, I use Safer's
soap, I refuse to let the bugs win!! Even if I have had
to strip every leaf I keep spraying and I won't throw
them out. I will be taking cuttings soon so this will be
the last winter for the big ones...2 are over 7 feet now,
but they were above the Y cuttings when I bought them.
I found when I took them to the basement and let them
die back it took forever for them to Y...especially in
our zone. Last summer we had snow at the end of May/
beg. of June-I couldn't take them out till the third
week of June. Our season can be soooo short! :~(
What if you let them go dormant until say the first of March and then brought them into the GH and let them get an earlier start then?
I don't have a greenhouse :~(
I don't either really but I do have a large sunroom addition to the back of the house. Last year we draped off a section about 14 by 12 and put up one 1000 watt metal halide light. This year I think I'll add a second light and I had the gas fitter come and move the gas radiant heater down to that end of the sunroom so I could add more affordable (LOL) heat than electric space heaters for the colder nights in springtime. I just don't see my banker loaning me enough money to run it 24/7 all winter. So I guess I'm really asking do you think the partial dormancy early revival would work for me.
Given your growing conditions I think it will. Just
hope that the power doesn't go out! ;~)
Don't even think such thoughts. I'd be out there hauling them all into my bedroom and I'd be sleeping in the GH.
LOL!! I should build a small one again-even if I got
the plants out at the beginning of May I would be tickled
pink!! March would be lovely but I bet the power bill is
too!
wasn't huge figured last year with the lights in the propagation area (read foyer of the house) which faces southwest (about 1000 watts 14 hours a day) and then the growing on area (sunroom with 1000 watt light and some nite time heat) we were going through about 220 dollars extra utilities for the 3 month period. Thats not bad for 600 plants. (like the guys who fish we don't count the cost of the light, the tables, the root trainers, etc.etc.) Hey, I don't smoke and it keeps me out of the malls. I can't count how many times I've used that one.
You've got a point and considering the amount you started
and didn't buy from the commercial greenhouses your
bill sounds pretty cheap! Maybe I should build one!