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grumpy01_gw

Will they survive the winter?

grumpy01
16 years ago

My wife bought two hibiscus plants this year and we planted them in the ground outside. They have the dark green shiny leaves and I learned from this forum that they are the tropical variety.

I don't want to dig them up and was wondering if they might survive the winter if I cut them down near the ground and cover with mulch. We live in the northern part of Tennessee and it will likely be a few days where the temps get into the teens or even lower during the winter.

Comments (6)

  • hitexplanter
    16 years ago

    Not very likely although it may be possible the odds are slim to nil. It would be best if you want to save them to dig them back out and put them in well drained fluffy rich (soiless) potting media. Otherwise enjoy them while they last and consider keeping one or two in pots next year. You can even bury the pot in the ground and dig it back out the end of next growing season if you like the in ground look. Enjoy whatever you choose!
    Happy Growing David

  • grumpy01
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks

  • rose_nutty
    16 years ago

    I've learned that with mulch I can break some of the 'hard and fast' garden rules I've grown up with. Like for instance, everybody says that gladolia bulbs have to be lifted in my climate. Last year I found out that one of my neighbors covers theirs knee-deep in leaves and has for several years. They continue to come back. So I tried it this past year, and yes, it does work! So if you really don't want to dig them and want to risk losing them, I'd experiment. Cover them deeply with leaves or mulch and see what happens. I think I'm going to do that with a couple of my more expendable dahlias and see if they can make it, too. Who knows?

  • mandi_s1
    16 years ago

    My hibiscus survived the winter, with about a week of frost/near frost temperatures. It was a full sun location though, so the ground never froze.

    It died back to the ground, and I mulched it in real good and held my breath and crossed my fingers.

    It came back looking kind of questionable at first, hubbs was all about the shovel and kept threatening, but I said wait, and et voila!

    It's about 18" tall and bursting with blooms. This is one of them posing on top of a yaupon holly bush.

  • mandi_s1
    16 years ago

    Bad me... I didn't look at your zone. If the ground freezes routinely I would say it would probably be a fairly solid no dice on wintering them in the ground.

    :-(

  • gardeniarose
    16 years ago

    I would take some cuttings of it now, pot them up and then keep the pots inside in a sunny window for the winter. Then you can keep them in the pots outside next summer and take them in again in winter. That is of course, if you don't mind having them in pots.

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