mytime, If you don't want to lose them, I would dig them up and store them ;)

North 53, whew, that was a close call!

I just realized that I have 2 more plants that I'm going to dig up and store today. I bought 2 'Blackie' Sweet Potato Vines early this spring and planted them in the big whiskey barrels, however they were smothered with the Tidal Wave Petunias that I forgot they were there ;)

Sharon

Yeah Marcia,
I should have trusted my instincts. I thought that 6C was quite optimistic. I don't know why I even look at those forecasts.
The fuchsia and hibiscus are back out in the sunroom for the day. Now I just have to remember to bring them in at night. They are just covered with blooms right now, or else I'd trim them back and put them in the basement.

I just discovered the Far North forum, and I think this is where I belong!

Each spring, my daughter spoils me for my birthday and Mother's Day with a vanload of flowers! She is part-owner of a greenhouse, and she starts my beauties in February when our world is still dark and snowy and VERY cold. This year, she planted one basket with begonia, lobelia and bacopa. The bacopa ("Snowstorm") was gorgeous and three feet long! I just had to try bringing it in as a houseplant. It survived two light frosts, but our summer is now officially over.

I sprayed it with Safer's Soap and plan to put the two plants into 5" pots and put them on the top shelf near the plant lights. Any suggestions for growing bacopa as a houseplant would be very welcome! I assume they like lots of light and misting.

I also have a Kenilworth ivy that I brought in months ago. It's a slow grower (a "runt"?), but I plan to grow it as a houseplant also.

Any suggestions on how to grow these two plants as houseplants would be very welcome!

Thank you,

Sue

Welcome to the forum Sue!

What I've done with bacopa is to take cuttings in the fall and get them growing in a south window for the winter. By about February, I again take cuttings, as these will be the new "babies" for the spring. I do the cuttings, as they take up less space. But if you have the room to bring in the whole plant, all the better.

The ivies that I bring into the house, I always battle spider mites with them. I just keep misting with water and hope for the best. I've been keeping the ivies in an east window, and they seem to be ok with that.

Good luck,
Laurie

Welcome to the FN Sue, make yourself at home, it's a wonderful forum for us cold zoners!

I just let my CYMBALARIA muralis Kenilworth Ivy self seed outdoors, the spread quite a bit this way. They are also very easy to Winter Sow ;)

Sharon

Thank you for the welcome.

I have been collecting seeds from my Kenilworth and thought I would try seeding some indoors. Can you please explain to me how you do winter sowing? I don't know if they will reseed outdoors here or not. I'll have to give them the opportunity next summer. We have a lot of plants that do - Johnny jump ups, pansies, delphinium, columbine, Peruvian orchids.

We have NO light in the winters, so windows do not help. In fact, I need to take my English ivy out of the window very soon, or the heater underneath the window will cook it for me! I bought a new Sunlight desk lamp last week, and I'm anxious to see how it contributes to the plants.

I'm looking forward to sharing ideas and experience with other Far North "overcomers"!

Sue

Sue, welcome to the FN! As a new member be sure to check out the gallery and the conversation sections of the FN. While you are in the conversations be sure to put your birthday into our birthday list. You said that you have no light in the winter. I don't know how I personally would do to live somewhere where there is no sun all day for an extended period of time. So, if you are in Alaska what city do you live in or are close to? Have you had killing f****t yet?

Here I live in the SW corner of Manitoba near Brandon, it is to go down to -3C tonight. Then, I can start to dig my glads, cannas, begonias, callas, etc.

I have proliferations on 2 daylilies (Siloam Bo Peep and Royal Braid) that I think I will bring inside today and start growing them in the house now. I do not know whether the -3C will hurt them or not if they are still attached to the mother plant.

Brenda

Sue, check out the Winter Sowing forum. This method of sowing is all done outdoors in containers. Check it out, there is a FAQ page that will tell you all about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum

Well I really wasn't going to overwinter many "tenders" this year, but you know by the time I took one of each, it sort of adds up. I wanted to take my three potato vines (golden, purple one and the tricolour one.) Does anyone else grow the tricolour one? Is it as dismal a performer and it is for me? I don't know why I saved it, the top was drying up and it was tiny, but it did form a small potato. I just find it's not a very aggressive grower and seems to sunburn, so maybe it needs total shade?

Then I had to save my tricolor geranium, the purple plant that I forget the name of, and an aquatic mint (mentha aquatica) plant, which was easy to do since it had offshoots already rooted while growing in the pond. Also saved a small cutting I had of the basket stuffer licorice plant and it seems to be drying up as we speak (oh well, less to look after this winter).

I decided I just don't have the room to overwinter stuff like my hibiscus so sort of treated that one like an expensive annual. Actually, it was only $12 and some people spend more on a pre-planted hanging basket, so I don't feel so bad.

We've had two light frosts, but not enough to kill much. You can definitely tell where the sheltered spots in the yard are. Maybe after this week I'll bring in the canna and begonia bulbs. I didn't want to bring them in too early because the basement isn't really cool and they are better off staying outside for now.

Glen

This has been a strange year here in Fairbanks (which, by the way, is right in the middle of Alaska.) We had two light frosts, and then it dropped to below freezing every night, but it still hasn't been cold enough to kill off everything. My begonias and impatiens went with the first light frost, and then the fuchsias with the first serious freeze. In general, most things are done for the winter. But there are exceptions! My petunia baskets that are under an overhang are still blooming, although not very enthusiastically. I still have tall campanula and Johnny-jump-ups blooming in a sheltered area in front. And there are pansies everywhere, still happily blooming their smiling heads off! Even in pots out in the yard where they are fully exposed. I still have violet and white alyssum looking great. At my church, there is about a 4-foot overhanging roof on the west side, and the wave petunias are still gorgeous!!!

This is a hard time of year here, with the trees bare of leaves and the days getting shorter, and no snow yet to cover the barrenness. So the brave little late bloomers are surely welcome!

Yes, the long days of darkness in the winter are hard, but the summers make up for it! Imagine 24 hours a day of daylight! Considering the cold soils and the short growing season, the plants do amazingly well!

I did check out the Canadian Winter Dowing forum. Sounds like I would have to wait until March. I might give it a try. My biggest hesitation is that I live in a 4-plex, and I don't know what the little monsters who live upstairs might do to my strange collection of containers! Maybe some day I'll be able to move to an upstairs apartment, and then I'll have a balcony!

Sue

Oops! That was supposed to be Canadian Winter Sowing forum. It got away from me before I made the correction.

:-)

My hibiscus is still sitting near the back door, blooming steadily. I'm waiting for it to finish before I can cut it back and move it downstairs.

Now there's a healthy hibiscus specimen! I won't post a pic of one of mine..........dried up to a crisp. Actually, if mine looked anywhere near as good as yours does, I would have kept on watering it.;^)

I have something called a "Red Shield" hibiscus that doesn't look a thing like that. Kind of maple-ish leaves, and purple. I don't know if it would ever bloom - it didn't this summer. Anyway, i brought it inside and so far it's doing fine. I need to dig out the dahlia that's in with it, but of course that hasn't died back. Maybe i'll just dig it out anyway.

Btw, things with purple leaves outside have green new growth inside, i'm finding out. :)

Marcia,
The one I posted is a tropical florist variety. My sister rec'd it as a gift and had to give it to me when she moved in 2003. This is the first year it has bloomed so well.

I saw those Red Shield ones in the nurseries this summer, but didn't buy one. I'm looking forward to see how it winters for you in the house.

We'll have to remember in the spring to have a "what made it" thread for things that we overwintered. I can already tell you that the lobelia that was in a couple of the containers has dried out and died. And several of the cuttings i took don't look very good. Also, all the daturas were suddenly covered with aphids, so they're back outside. I didn't want to deal with aphids already!

How are you doing with your over-wintered plants? Have you checked on them lately? :0

Pumphouse  stays above freezing (these guys are still sleeping, IÂll bring them out to the GH next month.)
Acer palmatum ÂFireglow Japanese Maple
Daylily (whose roots are too small to go in the garden)
Hibiscus syriacus 'Bluebird' (that I started from seed, didnÂt bloom this year)
Lavatera thuringiaca ÂBarnsleyÂ
Sambucus nigra Black LaceÂ
Starfighter Oriental Lily (6)

Indoors - basement, dark coolroom (moved to spare bedroom with light, warmth, water and a big of fertilizer.)
Begonia Pin-Up Flame (3) (didnÂt make it, dust, I went to repot but couldnÂt find the tubers) LOL
Brugmansia sanguinea (2) (just starting to leaf out)
Canna Bronzeleaf ÂRed King Humbert (2) (just starting to sprout in their original growing containers)
Colocasia Elephant Ear (just starting to sprout in its original growing container)
Datura metel Triple Yellow (lots of leaves happening)
Datura meteloides (lots of leaves happening)
Datura Variegated (lots of leaves happening)

These will go in the kitchen after their one week Raid quarantine ...
Lamiastrum galeobdolon Silver Nettle (growing good, took cuttings)
Pelargonium hortorum 'Black Velvet Scarlet' Geranium (growing good, took cuttings)
Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' (growing good, took cuttings)
Spider Plant Variegated (growing good)

I also brought a pot of these in so that I can take cuttings... (threw these guys out after just a few weeks bringing them indoors, full of spider mites!
Bacopa Snowstorm Giant Snowflake®
Petunia Supertunia® Priscilla

Dahlia ÂAkita (growing good, took cuttings)
Sharon

Sharon, I checked my Sambucus nigra Black Lace the other day, and it was green under the bark. It's planted outside on the south side of the house, so I hope it's survived.

I just brought my brugmansia up out of the cold storage, and I think it has sprouts coming from the roots....I hope that's what's sprouting anyway.

I have one live root of canna 'Tropicana' and it's potted now and under the lights.

My elephant ears don't look good at all....very dried out, so I think I may have to buy another one this spring.

Eucomis bulbs are sprouting a bit, same with the callas. But I'll wait until April to pot them up.

I'm not sure about the crocosmia corms though. They could be alive still, as they're not totally dried up. I think I'll wait until April to pot them as well.

Laurie

Well, let see . . . .

I lost my hibiscus. It dropped all of its leaves, started a whole bunch of new shoots and then they died, one by one after getting long and spindly. Cut them back but the plant then died. I'm going to try this one again this year.
I also lost my passion flower shortly after I brought it in last fall. It needed a quarantine longer than I gave, I think. It seemed to succumb to spider mites.

So, that leaves my 2 alstromeria pots and they are doing great.

Shauna

Question here regarding your hibiscus. Are these also the ones known as Rose of Sharon, Hibiscus syriacus or are these other Genus or species?

I have six seedlings coming and maybe several more. I gathered seed in Ontario in someones back yard not knowing what they were but really liked the seeds.

Clayton

What made it:
Coleus
Alternanthera (doing really well)
Small Wandering Jew
Large one
Red Shield Hibiscus (doesn't look great but still viable, and blooming, even)
All geraniums
Plecanthrus
Impatiens

What didn't:
lobelia
bacopa
sweet potato vine
datura

Jury is still out:
canna - i think the tubers dried out too much
begonias - i brought them out a couple of weeks ago and there's no sign of life in them
Shauna's alstromeria - still no sign of life :(

Clayton, they are many Hibiscus species, mine is the common garden H. syriacus (Rose of Sharon). Not hardy in zone2, so I have my seedlings overwintering down in our pumphouse which stays above freezing, hope it makes it and I hope its blue.

Wow, that's great news Laurie about your Black Lace, if yours makes it outdoors, I'll transplant mine out into the garden this spring too ;)

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Hibiscus

Sharon, the Black Lace is totally exposed now, so I hope it can handle a few cold snaps when we get them. It only had extra snow piled on for insulation, so we'll see.

My begonias all came though...they all have pink growing tips and are roaring to grow. I don't want to plant them till May though.

I potted up the white and purple calla lilies....they multiplied for me last season and all but a couple had started to grow. Instead of two pots, I now have six.

I am a bit concerned about the canna lilies....I left them under the heat grate all winter, and just found them a couple of weeks ago. There was no growing tips, but I potted them up anyway to see if they will grow....but I have my doubts. :-(

The over wintered dahlias have lots of sprouts, they will have to wait till may to be planted out as well.

The elephants ears bulbs, look solid but no growing tips...so will have to pot them up and see.

I haven't looked at the rest of the bulbs yet to know what they are doing.

I didn't bring in any plants, to much effort. LOL!

Sierra

Today I went down in the pumphouse and brought them all back up to the g/h.

Rasberry Ripple Daylily, whose roots were too small to go in the garden so late last fall, is already pushing up a new shoot, now I know where to store potted DL's if I find some on sale so late in the season ;)

Hibiscus syriacus 'Bluebird', I started this last year from seed but it didn't bloom, I see some new green growth already. Hope it blooms this year.

Lavatera thuringiaca ÂBarnsleyÂ, is greening up too.

and yippie, the
Sambucus nigra Black Lace is already putting on new growth even at the end of the tips.

Starfighter Oriental Lily bulbs that were sent so late in the season are doing good too, I think I will overwinter my Martagons down there too when I get them to the seedling stage.

Nothing growing yet on the Japanese Maple thou.

Sharon

I just love gardenweb. anything I want to know i just ask a question or post a question. Been reading these old threads trying to find something and everything......know what i mean..........I wanna thank all you gardeners that have taken me through many ups and downs and trials and errors. You'all have inspired me with your andtadokes(lololol) and i have loved this site even more.......THANKS.........

Ohgirl, welcome!! That is what brought me the Garden Web, also. Everytime I wanted to know something about gardening it seemed that when I googled the topic, someone in the Garden Web, somewhere, had talked about it. Finally I just joined and love it. I check regularly each day for the new topics and love to post pictures.

Besides Far North, Daylily and Canadian Exchange, some others I also check out are Harvest, Tole Painting and Market Gardening.

Brenda

After reading through this, i have to mention that the vinca vine didn't make it through the winter, and i never did get another one this year to try.

The Red Shield hibiscus and alternanthera are inside again for another winter, this time down at my son's house because i won't have room here. They both did fine this year but again, the hibiscus never bloomed during the summer. That's okay because the flowers are pretty nondescript.

Welcome to the FN forum ohgirl!

Good to hear Marcia, I just brought in a couple of pots of Red Shields Hibiscus indoors the other day.

Sharon

I want to get one of those giant red hibiscus too!

Posted by dmd151 3 on Mon, Oct 1, 07 at 23:28
Hi Sharon - I stumbled upon your postings when I was researching bacopa. You said that you recently bought some and will take cuttings. I have a beautiful one I brought indoors - want to know how to save it (sorry this doesn't have to do with bulbs ... I am new to this site)

Welcome to the FN forum dmd151, I tried to overwinter Bacopa way last fall in 2006, it eventually succumbed to drying off and spider mites that I had to throw it away. I should of gradually acclimatized the plant to indoor conditions and sprayed it good for bugs or took cuttings earlier in the season.

Good luck with yours though.

Sharon

Reviving this thread for 2008. It was fun reading back over the past couple of years. My alternanthera and red shield hibiscus are still going strong. They overwinter in the house fine, though last year the hibiscus did get aphids. It's turning into a tree, though, and i need a larger container for it. So far i haven't found anything. A friend has a big empty room above their office with large windows and she's going to take it for me this year.

All my geraniums are inside for the winter. I should cut them back or something because most of them don't look so good. I've also brought in a bacopa plant. I bought seeds last year and only one survived. It's a nice sized plant now and i'd like to keep it going. How does everyone fertilize during the winter? Less fertilizer and longer between feedings? That's why i looked for this thread, but couldn't find any information on that.

I grew geraniums from seed this year as an experiment. I started them late, so not many of them bloomed before I moved them inside. Now they are in full bloom and look great...we'll see how long that keeps up! I also brought in Pinocchio's Nose chili peppers and Jingle Bells pepper plants. Last year I didn't bother, but my niece kept the plant I gave her on her desk all winter at work, and had fresh bell peppers all winter, so I figured I might as well try it, too. I also grew heliotrope from seed this year and planted them in the pots of my 2 year old (wintered in the house last winter) pelargoniums and fuschias. I had tried overwintering heliotrope some years ago, and it just dried up and died. This year, though, I figured I'd try again since they're already in pots of plnats I'm keeping. Half the leaves dried up, so I took them off and cut it back; it has been growing new leaves like crazy and is now budding. I would be thrilled if the heliotrope makes it.

Do you have the purple heliotrope or the white one? I love the white one...its vanilla scent is wonderful!

I am overwintering...
-a pot of each kind of plectanthus I have
-my three kinds of wandering jews, "Purple Heart", "White Fuzzy" and my smooth leafed pink and green variegated one
-2 pansy geraniums, a light pink and dark pink, already growing in one large pot
-mandevilla (pink) in its large pot with its trellis
-4 kinds of alstromeria...will grow in pots in the house for the winter, some are in full bloom yet.
-moss rose portulaca in its container...anyone want slips???

I grew 3 kinds of coleus in each of 3 containers this summer. Did they ever fill out and look great! I may or may not keep a few slips from them. I can always get them as plugs in the spring from the local nursery instead of overwintering them.

I am trying to keep as few plants inside this winter as possible since I plan on starting lots of daylily seeds from crosses I made and also some iris and hosta seeds from bee pods.

Brenda

The battle with aphids over the last few winters has caused me to rethink the whole process of wintering some tenders.
Even this fall I had an outbreak on some of my cuttings.
So, I'm being a lot more selective in what I keep. Right now, I have several types of plectranthus, a couple of iresine, an ivy geranium and a variegated potato vine under the lights.
In the 'cold' room, I have all the rest of the geraniums, and the various bulbs. I'm also for the first time trying to keep my fuchsia and lantana in a dormant state in the cold room.
My cold room isn't very cold, however. It is at best, cool.

For some reason most of my coleus cuttings didn't take, but maybe that's okay since they were always the worst affected by the aphids.

Brenda, what type of plectranthus do you have? I seem to be collecting them and now have 5 different ones, depending on whether they make it through the winter. I love the green one with the purple backed leaves. I also like my variegated chartreuse one. It isn't as vigorous as the purple leaf one though. I would like to know exactly which varieties I have, but they never seem to be properly labeled.

Plectranthus... let's go over to the gallery for pictures and explanations of each kind I have. Everyone, please add the ones you have and remember, I would love to exchange if anyone is interested in doing so for those I do not have.

Brenda

Marica, NO fertilizer, very little water when overwintering plants in the house. You want them to be in a "semi" - dormant state.

That should be no problem, Sharon, as it's what i've done up until now! It occurred to me that i might have been wrong, but i guess not. The geraniums never look that great all winter, but sometimes one or two of them will bloom.

I envy your pumphouse. I wonder if i could convince dh to dig a 12 foot hole in the back yard. :> (I'll have him put stairs in it, though - i know you have a ladder and that would scare me!)

Yeah Marcia, the ladder can be a bit nervous but I'm used to it now, I can get up and down in record time with a flat in one hand and the other hand grabbing onto the ladder. ;)

However, I'm always fearful that I'm going to be alone and the floor door will slam shut while IÂm down there! lol

Sharon

Maybe you'd better leave a big stick down there so that you could poke the door open if need be. Figure something out - i'd be afraid of that too!

This year I have more room to store things. I brought in 4 window boxes of geraniums, all started from seed. They are a mixture of 'Bullseye' and 'Black Velvet'. I also brought in a planter with 'Cora' vinca, some alternantha & gazania (just to try). The alternantha is turning green inside and I was wondering if it usually does that inside? I brought the vinca inside because it never did set seed. I tried bringing in the 'Bluetopia' but it just dried up. I planted some upright junipers this year. Since we get some fierce north/northwest winds here, I think I will wrap them for the winter. I think I will wrap them for the winter. Marg

Yes, Marg, that's what the alternanthera does inside, but it's still an attractive plant. The colour changes outside fairly quickly, and i have in other years taken cuttings from the greener pieces. They root easily.

When should a person wrap trees? I was going to start a thread about that, but i'll just ask here. I planted a dwarf Alberta spruce this summer and want to wrap it for the winter but was wondering when was the best time for that.

I think most people just wrap their trees to help prevent 'sun burn' or 'wind burn. I was thinking of putting a cage around the trees and wrapping burlap around the cage. I think that would be good enough to cut the wind. I've heard of damage done to the new foliage in spring during the freeze/thaw cycles, especially when somebody takes the burlap off to early. Since I'm always to eager to get into the garden in spring, I would probably be one of those people who did that! Marg

Marcia, I wrapped my rhodo a couple of weeks ago...then build a funny looking box around it so it doesn't get crushed....we will see how it fairs come spring.

Sierra

The Renegade Gardener recommends what Marg is suggesting.
Here's the link if anyone is interested. He is a landscaper and has an interesting site. On the menu on the left, go to 'Don't do That' and you should be able to find the article about wrapping trees.
http://www.renegadegardener.com/

Thanks for the info, Marg and Marie. I'll have to figure out something. The tree is only a couple of feet high so it will probably get covered with snow and really wouldn't have to be wrapped. But the wall or cage might be the answer for cold days in spring after some of the snow has melted.

Marciaz3: Just because a tree has lots of snow cover doesn't necessarily mean that it will be protected. After Christmas, the sun start to get stronger. Even if the tree is covered about Apr., there is still a chance of 'sunburn'. Making a 'cage' around it would also keep branches from being broken due to the snow load. Just my 2 cents. Marg

Oh for sure, Marg - i did intend to protect it somehow anyway. I'm just revising the actual wrapping part. The link Marie provided showed a short wall in front of the shrub, but this wouldn't be enough for this tree as it's facing south and the sun as it rises in the sky over the winter would hit the tree for sure. A cage of sorts is a better idea, i think, and now i have to figure out what to use. What came to mind was one of those aluminum frames that are supposed to hold your garbage bags open. I bet that would work. :)

When we made our cages, we just used fence wire and that's what we will wrap. The fence wire is stronger and will not sag under the snow load. Our trees are right in front of the house so they get not only the snowfall but they will probably end up getting some from ghte snowblower too!Marg

I don't have fence wire, so i think i'll use that bag holder thing. This will get snow from the snowblower as well - i count on that usually for my roses that are on the other side of the path!