Brandon,

We were down to -1.3 on our outdoor thermometers. We sit in a frost pocket and lose the sun much earlier than others around us do. I don't worry too much about tender plants that I haven't already brought in. I'm overwintering coleus, an ornamental pepper, basil, and an avocado tree indoors though!

Around here there's just one or two nights a year (on average) that really present much of a challenge to the semi-hardy things. Usually it's a couple of days in January, but this year the low temps have come early. I'm usually pretty good about thinking about things in time and bringing the stuff into the garage on the unusually cold nights, but one year I was on vacation. I had more semi-hardy potted stuff out than normal and I didn't feel it was fair to have my parents come over and work for so long to save the stuff. When I got home, some stuff had survived, some hadn't. It was kind of sad.

At my farm, I've got a pretty amazing difference in microclimates. I'd guess that the coldest spot probably gets 15 degrees colder than the warmest spot on certain nights. I always keep that difference in mind when deciding where to plant things (as well as the potential floods that cover about two acres of the property on occasion).

Speaking of overwintering coleus and basil, what do you do, if anything besides pinching, to keep yours from bolting?

Mine are all tucked away in the greenhouse, Just waiting for spring and hoping the heater dosen't go off.

Brandon,

Generally that's about all I do (if I even do that!) I have one of those slow to bolt hybrid coleuses 'Henna' which is about 2 feet tall in its pot. I need to cut it back to let it bush out. The basil is constantly bolting but once we are close to spring I'll take some more cuttings of the basil and plant them outside. It gives me a head start on the growing season!

I've grown coleuses that bolted much more slowly than others, but I don't think I've ever had a cultivar that was designed for that specifically. I usually don't hold coleuses over because I don't often have the indoor space, but if I was going to, I guess I'd look for one of those slow-to-bolt types. I've seen them on some of the gardening shows on TV, back when HGTV actually had real gardening shows.

One thing I can say for the UT Gardens in Knoxville is that they have some awesome coleuses. I wonder if they hold any of them over. I'd bet they don't.

Henna is one of the more expensive ones that came out a few years ago. I've had this one for two years now I think. It hasn't bolted yet! I don't know if it was bred for that specifically but I doubt it the color is amazing.

I remember UT have some very nice plants when we lived out there. Specifically the caladiums! Do you know if they dig those each year or plant new ones?

I don't know how much they bring in. I do know that I see a lot of stuff, that could be brought in, left out to die when I visit there in winter. It kind of makes me sick to see very valuable stuff not taken care of. With many of their plants, if the summer neglect doesn't get 'em, the winter neglect does. I could probably make a very very impressive public garden with just the stuff they let die from neglect.

I remember the caladiums too. Pretty impressive when you can have hundreds and hundreds of them.