Wintering tender plants

Now that winter is coming I thought this would be a good thread to start. In the past I’ve always steered away from plants that I need to bring in for the winter. This gal can’t even winter over glad bulbs with out killing them! I have several plants that I want to bring in this year and I need all the help I can get. I’ve already got some good advice about the brugmansia but I also have a passion flower, crocosmia, begonias, and some other things I’ve been debating about bringing inside. I’m thinking I might set a light up in the basement. How do you all winter your tender plants? Any special advice about the ones I’ve listed?

Poppysue
The crocosmia I let go dormant, (light frost will send it into dormancy). I cut off the leaves, keep dry and replant in the spring. It stays in the garage till then.
We have green houses, so I take my tender plants there and keep them. One house is almost empty so we turn the heat down to 40. If a plant needs it warmer, I use heat mats. Twenty dollars a month (electricity) for a 25 foot mat as opposed to 400 dollars a month to heat the whole house!! I've not lost any this way. The mats can be set to any temp and work great for starting cuttings too.

Removed by member request

poppysue... I was trying the begonia method that MzM listed, and I thought they would survive. Alas, I never found out because a friend that was 'helping' me clean the basement thought they were just dead plants and threw them away! I didn't have any begonias this year so still don't know if I could overwinter them dormant in my basement here in zone 6. I do dig and successfully store my bulbs like glads, caladiums and calla lily, but the cannas didn't survive. Good luck on winterizing!

That's another one I want to bring in ....a canna. SoCal sent me a beautiful striped one and I want to make sure I don't kill it. Should I wait until frost to dig it up?

Do you have a compost heap? If you do dump the bulbs/tubers in there (make sure you can find them again by putting them in a box or sacking and cover over with more compost and maybe a piece of carpet. By the time you dig them out at planting they have usually sprouted.

Removed by member request

Do you know if you can bring in a poinsettia for the winter? I planted the one I got for Christmas this year it is doing well outside but am pretty much sure it would not make if over the winter outside. I have no problem digging it back up and bringing it in if there would be any hope.

AWWW Thansk MzM I hoping that was a compliment you edited LOL.

Rose

Poinsettia is a plant from Mexico and therefore not hardy in your zone. Bring it indoors by all means but to get the coloured bracts again you will need to bring it in now and subject it to 14 hours of complete darkness everyday. Someone else will have the method for you. I personally would just buy a new one. Then again I'm lazy.

I just found what I think are Chinese Lantern plants growing wild and transplanted them to my garden. They look to be very tender plants. Will they survive the winter here in western Tennesse or do I need to dig them up, put them in pots and bring them inside for the winter?

I read the info in the plant database and it said that the flowers of this plant are supposed to be white, mine are yellow and the lanterns are (still?)green. Do I indeed have what I think I have?

What about coleus? Dig'em up?
What about my Lily of the Valley, bearded iris(only have one rhizome that I received in trade)and mints and lemon grass?

I know I must be a terrible pain in the buttocks, but I really am trying to learn!:-)

Dazed and confused(as usual),
Melissa

FYI: No, I am not a blonde!;-)

Melissa are the petals on the flower joined together into a star shape and a dark blotch in the middle? If so I think its a cape gooseberry - Physalis peruviana.

Heres a link

http://www.nhg-nuernberg.de/botanik/bilder/physalis_peruviana.jpg

The berry turns golden orange and the calyx turns brown

Melissa, not sure about the others, but yes yes to the coleus. Or better still, what I do is take cuttings now from each different one, and make sure you have them going before frost. That way if they fail you still have time to make another cutting. Frost destroys them.

Melissa~ You might have the wild ground cherry that grows here in middle TN.(Physalis sp.) It has yellow blooms, the fruit is technically edible, but tastes bad compared to cult. varieties. Plus the lanterns never get anything but brown or tan. Hope you're not too disappointed, they are cute plants but this is one time I have to say "go with the cultivated kind" tho generally I prefer the wild anything.

Baa, the petals of the flowers are joined together and the plant looks almost identical to the one at the hyperlink. However, there is no brown in the one flower I examined. Just yellow. I will look at some of the older flowers tomorrow, it is dark now.

tiG, thanks. I think I will be digging these up and start some cuttings in case I kill the poor things while trying to save them from the cold. LOL

Ivey, I am not the least bit disappointed. I figure whether it is a gooseberry or a ground cherry I did well. The were free and have even managed to get a cutting to start taking root. I think they are beautiful and don't care what color they turn. It is just a neat looking plant and I hope that I don't loose them. Do you know if they do okay in pots? I would like to overwinter at least one in the house.

Thank you all for your responses. I realize that a lot of my questions are probably simple and repetative. I have not been into serious gardening for very long and am just now beginning the learning process. Thank you so much for letting me pick your brains!

Melissa

Ivey, could you tell me if the wild ground cherry has any color on the inside of the flower like the gooseberry? That would, I think, give me a final answer. Also, the stems of the plant that I have are very "fleshy" like coleus, not woody at all, does that help?

Thanks,
Melissa

This message was edited Friday, Sep 14th 12:05 AM