"Where and how much did you order your basjoo, if you don't mind me asking?" Sorry, I'm just catching up! I ordered mine on Ebay. This is my second time ordering and I think I generally pay around $5-6 a plant. I received them already and they look great, so I have four in the ground at this point (three new and one I had as a houseplant). Blondboy, I'm so happy for you!!!! What a sight!!! I guess I was the only one who actually killed mine. :( But as a Zone 5er (and borderline 5 at that), I'm not all that surprised. I WILL try again this coming winter though, maybe even with Christmas lights for a little warmth! I did a few things wrong this winter like having plastic directly on the plant!

Always keep at least one basjoo inside as insurance for the six years I've grown basjoo. I bring mine in my classroom, set it under the normal flourescent ceiling lights, and it always does fine. Pretty tough, although mine have a little more spce between each new leaf, whereas outside they come in closer together. For mite I use soap spray or windex. I've even used the spray you use to clean dry erase boards which is mostly water and alcohol. I haven't had one left in the ground for two years now after rotting my 'big momma' so this year I've put them everywhere since I had so many new pups on my potted one. I'm going to cover a couple, but the others I'm not going to touch... just to see how they do. I'm even going to plant one at my school this spring for the kids to enjoy. Chris

I would say 1.Clean it well,along with your other plants before they come inside. 2.Put it in the largest pot you can comfortably carry inside so you will get max growth outside this year which should be as good as planting it in the ground,I had a large banana tree that was in huge pot,it died but one of the pups is taking advantage of the prexisting root system and the huge pot and is growing as well as my other bananas. 3.Give it as much sun as possible inside during the winter and it will do just fine,I did not loose any basjoos in a west window this past winter.West was the only window that got sun to the tops of the plants. I think starting out with as well established of a nanar and root system would be best.I dug up my 5-6 footers last year to save there size and get some larger pups to start out with for next year in case these don't make it through this coming winter. Good luck,I'll let you know how mine do this winter/spring-

Brandon, you are not causing me grief! I was thinking it was me causing you grief! I appreciate your help! Anyway, I think maybe, possibly, there is an outside chance that I have them in the gallery. I will check soon because they said it takes a while to get them on the air... or is that IN the air??? ;-) I might have to start a new post to show the URL because Gardenweb does not see fit to allow me to post 2 times right in a row. I tried last night and they REJECTED my post! Can you imagine? That's just rude. Thanks again, very much. Thanks for the congrats. Honestly I have been so excited I would just love to take a bow when I finish jumping up and down. All I did to overwinter it was to make a ring of chicken wire about 18 inches out from the trunk and about 2 1/2 ft high, then fill it with leaves (I think any material that is not too dense would work). I did not cut it down. I removed old leaves that I could reach but didn't cut the center at all. Actually I would not recommend looking at it overmuch in the spring unless you have a strong stomach. Sort of yucky. But be brave or look away.... eventually a green leaf will force it's way thru the muck. It has really been one of my lower maintenance plants overall, including the overwintering! Stay tuned for pictures (we hope)!