Will: I have a few Tropical Hibiscus that I winter over in the house. I am in Ontario zone 6. I fortunately have a basic light settup using just the inexpensive flourescent tubes in 4 foot fixtures but it provides enough light for my needs. I place my tropical Hibiscus( which have been pruned to sticks about a foot high) at the ends of these lights (outside the 4 foot fixture zone) so they are receiving in fact very little light but they endure for the winter and then I place them outside in the spring and off they go. I actually usually even get a few blooms over the winter period to brighten the odd dreary day. I have now had a number of these Hibiscus for several years so I am happy with the results.Ross.

I've over-wintered in the basement, too. I simply prune the plants back very hard after they're allowed to dry down so they're almost completely dry. They then rest in the cool basement & go through a situational or environmental dormancy related to the dry soil and cool conditions. In spring, I remove the bottom 2/3 of the root mass and bare-root/root prune what's left, before repotting into a fast-draining soil comprised mainly of pine bark fines.

Root maintenance is very important if you want to get all you can from hibs. Their rebellion at tight roots includes lots of aborted buds, poor branch extension, and that 'tufted' or 'poodle' look where the foliage growth tends to be concentrated only near the apical meristems (growing tips of branches), not to mention an overall reduction in vitality.

Al