This is a great thread! There are so many considerations for us summer out/winter indoors people. In the summer I have cattleyas, dendrobiums, oncidiums, and bulbophyllums out on a porch, with direct sun in the morning and late afternoon, and shade overhead at midday. This year I put out paphs too, on the bottom shelf where they had more shade. Everything does very well and adds a lot of growth. In the winter, they all move to a sunroom facing west but with a south exposure too. Life for my orchids improved immensely when I added Wonderlites (in the west and south windows) and big humidity trays to this set up, and it cost very little. Most winter days it is about 60% humidity, high of 80 F and low 55F. I have a tiny space heater to boost heat on really cold nights. My electric bill is just $25-30 a month. It helps that this room can be closed off to retain the humidity. I have the catts in clay pots and water about once a week. I think the humidity helps them cope with drying out completely. Another factor I think is that I choose catts that aren't seasonal bloomers but bloom at various times of the year. Originally I chose them just because I wanted to get more blooms, but I also figure they have a built-in urge to keep growing and not go dormant when the light and heat wane. They make lots of leads and lots of blooms during winter. My only basket plants are brassavolas that I water every other day. Calvin, I think your plan to cut back on water and fert until you see signs of growth is exactly the way to go. Generally I think it's important to observe the plants really closely and follow their lead. By the way I suffered from tinted windows for a month or two before I realized what was going on, but mine came with a little label that warned against using ammonia or detergent to clean them. The anti-UV tint was just a surface film that was gone with a few vigorous washings. By the way, I also remove the screens in winter as they cut down on the light. Good luck and keep experimenting! Margo

I got interested in growing dahlias in pots a couple of years ago when we stopped to eat at a restaurant with the most gorgeous flowers. Some of them were as tall as the gutters on the roof. Then I realized they were ALL grown in pots, and that blew my mind (and all were dahlias!). I started with 4 plants last year but wasn't brave enough to grow them completely in pots. This year I plan to do most of them in pots because I've upped the number to 25 and don't have the space to plant them all in ground. I also think from what I've read over at www.cubits.org/dahlias that they do just as well in pots. It certainly would be a lot easier to dig them up in the fall after that first killing frost. If it was an especially early frost, you might be able to move favorites to a sheltered location and get a few more weeks of flowers. The idea of dividing them in my potting area is much more attractive than the thought of digging them out of cold wet soil, as I did last fall. And I like vikingcraftsman's idea of using them as a screen!

I had six new plants that started as tubers. Planted them along a fence and they get 5 hours of sun per day, plus the heat off the wood fence is a plus. . This is their second year with slow start due to the bad NW Spring, too much rain and little sun, but last year they all performed beautifully. I had blooms into October. We'll see this year. One plant didn't come up, but the rest are growing. My old gardens got about 7 hours and I had 20 plants. All did beautiful. Key is to deadhead old blooms and water regularly. Don't stress dahlia or they will not due well, like overwatering or competing with weeds, and not desdhesding. Happy growing!

When I lived in Nebraska, we'd plant ours in the ground in springtime and dig them up in the fall and keep them in the house, and repeat each year. They'd look awful in the spring when we'd first plant them...they would lose their leaves and look bad for a month or so, but then, they'd put out new growth and look amazing all the rest of the spring/summer. They'd get around 3 feet wide and almost as tall...the most amazing geraniums you've ever seen! We found out it's a good idea to cut it back after planting in them outside in the springtime. Then you can stick the cuttings in the ground and the'll root almost 100% of the time...giving you more and more each year.