Overwintering Cassias advice please

Hello All.

Here is an evening picture of my lush and gorgeous Cassia alatas. I started them from seed last March. They've grown very quickly and have turned into real showpieces. I think (I hope) that I have tiny flower buds, so I am cautiously optimistic that I will see blooms before our first freeze in 6-8 weeks.

My question....What am I going to do with them over the winter? They will have to come indoors for 5-6 months. Should I keep them on my south-facing sun porch and keep watering them like a tropical? Let them dry out and barely water them? Cut them back and put them in the basement?

Any advice would be appreciated. I'd like to enjoy them in my gardens next year.

Thank you.

Erick

How warm is your sun porch in the winter?

I believe this is the Cassia growing in my yard - a small plant gift from my neighbor. I would think you could bring them inside and treat as a houseplant over winter. I would just go light on the water ... the one in my backyard is small but goes dormant during the winter .... little water unless we get rain and it always comes back in spring. We do sometimes have cold weather .... frost and sometimes a rare freeze, but our cold weather does not last long. When temp's are predicted to drop below 35 I will cover some tender plants with blankets but have never covered this one and it's been fine. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/371/


edited to say: I think they would do fine on your sun porch .... if it gets really cold, just cover them with an old sheet or blanket and don't forget to water them.

This message was edited Aug 26, 2007 4:06 PM

tigerlily123, my sun porch is four-season, so it's completely indoors. It never gets below 60F or so, even in the dead of winter.

Thank you plantladylin. I appreciate the good advice. I'll plan to treat mines as tropicals indoors this winter, just with a bit less water.

Erick

Can I send a boatload of tropicals for you to overwinter for me then? lol Sounds like a perfect place for them!
I agree with plantladylin-it should do fine there, and it will probably drop a lot of the leaves, but will regain them in the warmth of the late spring/summer.

Mine is in the ground and drops every single leaf in winter!

Erick your porch will be fine but just water lightly when needed. I always over winter some to get a head start on the next year too.

Never gets below 60?! That rocks! I dunno what it would need but seems ot me that if it can handle Fl in winter where surely it's not sitting dry, it should be very easy to handle in a 60 degree sun porch. Like you said, with just a bit less water ought to do it.

I am dreaming of a sun porch......sigh.....

I grew one for about 6 years, brought it into the living room w/south windows for winter. It got huge and I even trimmed. Never bloomed, so it had to give up it's winter spot for something more productive. I kept it pretty moist in avg. "home" temp.

tigerlily123, I would be happy to overwinter your tropicals. There's no guarantee that you'll get them back in spring though!

Thank you all for the most helpful advice and observations. I now have a plan to overwinter my plants. And they better bloom next summer.

Erick

Maybe it should not be cut back, mine bloomed right on top. I tried to over winter this one in a gh but it didn't make it.

I would love to try it again if anyone has extra seeds.

Linda I have been over wintering 2' ones for years with no problems. Keep them root bound and on the dry side. I never cut them back but would remove any blooms. They will take off in spring when you put them in the ground. Then start for seeds for the next years plants