Absolutely. You and I are on the same wavelength though most of my tenders are smaller than yours. I usually wait until the weather gets below 40. I will probably take some cuttings today or tommorrow. You have some huge brugs though. Where do you keep them and how much light do you give them?

Glad I'm not alone Loretta. The brugs get cut back and tossed in the garage that has a heater set on 50F all winter and they will go dormant. The only thing they need is a bit of water from time to time. Several brugs I treat as annuals and don't bring them in at all.

I do bring many plants to live inside some make it, some don't. I'm HORRIBLE about keeping plants alive when they are inside. I wish we never had to bring them in. I'm not looking forward to winter.

Wow; are those brugs GORGEOUS! I wish I had the room, desire, and patience to bring plants in. I've given up on dahlias, I just can't stand digging them up and storing them. Yet, I do miss growing them. There's only a few plants that I overwinter in my florida room, which does get to or just below freezing. Since it's basically the main entrance to my house (nobody uses the front door, just for mail), so I can't clutter it up too badly (well, more than usual). I'm horrible keeping plants alive indoors as well.

My mom already brought her tropical hibiscus in, and she's had it for about 10 years now. She won't mess with Mother Nature. I always say I'll bring this in, I'll bring that in, but normally manage to throw in the towel and start again next spring...

But, after seeing your brugs, I might give them a shot next year ;)

Tracey, my dahlias have survived in the ground the last two years, so maybe if you planted them close to the foundation of your house you'd have luck?

First off I have to say- wow, what a gorgeous patio planting! I started bringing things in yesterday so that Friday won't be a mad rush that ends with mud and bugs all over my kitchen. I have a few more things to bring in tomorrow. It annoys me that some of my annuals are looking so nice (now that it's not 95 degrees anymore) and might be blackened and killed by Saturday morning. I hope a few of the things outside will make it but if the carnage is really bad at least I will be snug in my warm house with my rescued flowers.

Your garden is beautiful. Have you asked your town to put a glass dome over your property for the winter? Trops are coming in this weekend, to be followed by subtrops when a freeze threatens.

OMG! It's going down to 32 tonight! I got a lot of work to do.
It never fails - first frost is when my Mexican Salvia finally decides to bloom!

The weather report changed to above 40 for the next five days.Few!

Some plants don't seem worth while to overwinter as they suffer so much and take all season to recover, but I couldn't afford to purchase all the plants I use each season, nor could I find them.

Back to the 30's. Good thing I made my coleus cuttings because the damage was done.

The temperature has not dipped low enough to blacken my dahlias yet but it is about to happen, sniff. My Thomas Edison dahlia is just about to bloom for the first time, I don't know why it took it so long, but it breaks my heart because it is so lush and gorgeous.

Well, I think I've pushed it to the limit this year. I did bring in some more tender plants when I first typed this but the brugmansia's were not on the list. They are all looking a little rough this a.m. Hopefully it's just leaf damage! I still have to dig SO much yet. There never seem to be enough time.
Mprats- I hope your dahlia made it.
Loretta- you had me checking the forecast daily LOL but I still didn't do a darn thing about it.
Steve I'll put in my request with Medford and let you know how it turns out :) !!!
azzelda Isn't it the truth about the annuals! Mine were really putting on a show the last month or so. They didn't seem to like the heat this summer and many of them just sat there and looked sad.
tracey_nj6 every year I say I'm going to cut back on the number of brugs I grow but it never seems to happen. This year was a bad year for blooming and I was ready to toss them all out. Then we cooled a bit and they've all been in bloom for over a month. If you need any next spring you know where to find some. *that is if the weather doesn't kill them first LOL!*

datdog; do you harvest seed from your brugs? If so, and you have extra, I'd love to take some off your hands ;) I've only grown datura's in the past; my first was a volunteer. I've been in love ever since. I simply grow them as annuals, since they reseed so well. Well, except when I harvest my seed too well, and they don't reseed.
loretta; I'm growing my first Mexican salvia. It was blooming when I purchased it. It's since grown to about 6' and just started blooming again. I thought it was an perennial :( I might have to dig it up, but my list is too long, of things to dig up, and space is definitely limited...

Tracy, I overwintered the one I have now. It did OK. The only salvia that I overwintered that really took off is the fruit sage. The others didn't perform well enough for me to bother. Probably it is better to do cuttings and have a fresher plant? Those of you who overwinter salvias from cuttings, do you use root hormone or do you soak in water? What is your secret?

Datdog, I have all my begonias under a sheet on my porch - I am really going to try and focus to bring them indoors today. Because I display them around the garden, I am sure they all have pill/sow/potato bugs and millipedes and I am going to have to repot. On top of that, I have plants bought on sale now that have to go in the ground. Why do I do this to myself every year? Every year I say I'm not going to buy any more plants that aren't hardy or succumb to the end of season sales where so many of the plants don't make it.

Gorgeous brugs, Datdog. Can you let the frost nip them or do you have to bring them in before that happens?

Loretta, I've rooted salvias in perlite, or a mix of sand and sterile potting soil. Root hormone doesn't seem to make much difference, but some root extremely easily (Limelight was making roots in the air, at every joint) and some root less readily, like the greggiis. It's my opinion that the ones that like it moist root easier. Also salvias seem to root better earlier in the season - like early August.

I had a real microclimate experience Monday - I came out in the morning and it was soooo cold - but all plants were fine except for the coleus - no frost to be seen - and when I drove my son to school, the open fields were white with frost, only a quarter mile away. Somehow the trees must have held the heat in my yard, and maybe the cold flowed down the slope, as English garden books describe, which hardly seems relevant here where the ground freezes solid. Well, it gave the garden another week or three...

I agree - I had to bring a number of my potted trees etc. into the shed last week ... was way too cold for tropicals etc. ~

Tom

Still living on the edge here in the pine barrens. It's all still outside. Oh, what a exciting life I lead..LOL Everything is coming in tomorrow.

Tracey come and pick up some plants and forget the seeds.They can take two years to bloom from seed.

birdgardener A light frost is okay as I cut the foliage off anyway before I bring them in.

Tom most of my tropicals are hanging on for dear life but don't look too bad.

I am gambling here too. Still haven't finished up with the plants.

I am gambling here too. Still haven't finished up with the plants.

Someone is later then me, someone is later then me!!! Wooohooo!!! I feel like I'm ahead of the game now Loretta. LOL :) I had my husband bring in most of them yesterday and I'm suppose to finish up today but it's so darn cold I can't motivate myself to get going. You better hurry up it's suppose to be 32F on Tuesday. ;0)
Kristi

I'm glad my procrastination serves some purpose.
OK, so I got a lot of the plants in the ground that were sitting in pots but the begonias and friends are still under a sheet on my porch. Now the weather report says above 40 through November- not that 40 deg is optimum begonia weather and not that it won't change by morning. But I WILL repot them tomorrow and bring the most tender in.

No really I will...

Hi Datdog

Beautiful as usual! Your patio looks so delicious. Removing some trees really made a difference in the look of your yard.

I've got voles, so I'll see what I've lost next spring.

Annette

We had a killing frost last night. A few perennials that were happy yesterday are pretty much done today. Goodbye begonia grandis, goodbye impatiens. Even some of the dahlias got smacked. That is a little ahead of last year for me.

I had some frost too. Tops of the brugs are droopy. considerable damage to tender foliage in exposed areas.