daylily77, I think that bulbs do need to be a bit moist whenever the weather is above freezing (think "moist, well-drained soil" as they say). I think if they really dry out they won't perform well and may even die. You want to mimic the amount of precipitation they'd get if they were in the ground as, for instance, the light rains that often come in late winter or early spring. I've never heard of actually putting the pots in plastic bags or otherwise covering with plastic to conserve water. I would worry a lot that they'd rot without any opportunity to dry out a little once in a while, especially if they go through stretches of being wet AND cold at the same time. I think they'd also need some ventilation, especially on warm days. What I HAVE heard of, and then tried with success, is wrapping the outsides of pots in bubblewrap, leaving the soil surface exposed. All you need to worry about is keeping the soil from freezing through, and bubblewrap should do it. I suspect that toomanyanimals might be refering to summer-flowering bulbs like cannas and croscosmias (not technically bulbs but rhizomes and corms, respectively). These should be brought indoors and allowed to dry out in their pots, and they will resume growth when you begin to water them in late winter or early spring. Some are a bit tricky, though. Cannas seem to need a bit of moisture from time to time, but letting them get soggy in a warm room will likely kill them (rot, again). Some others - like sweet potato vine tubers and zantedeschia (calla lilies) corms - should be "lifted" and kept barely moist in milled peat or a similar light medium. And by the way, I forgot to mention that true lilies do GREAT with the methods recommended above for spring bulbs (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and the like). cranebill, again

If it was still outside and you lived in a citrus climate I'd have maybe gone to the production rate, but since you're taking it inside, I'd just go with maintenence. But no, citrus don't really "need" a break, they're a tropical evergreen so they don't need to go dormant or even slow down in their preferred weather areas. They do sometimes slow down in winter outdoor in citrus growing areas that are less than tropical, like here in the SF bay area, Ca, but I would bet in South Florida they probably don't slow down much in winter at all. Here it's the cooler temps and less light that causes them to not grow as much in winter. Where you are it would be a lower light level inside, I would assume. So go ahead and fertilize in winter too. imo.

If your seedlings were potted up for some time i would advise you to leave them outsde and not weeken them by bringen them under cover the hare realy hardy plants.I have around 1000 plants i grow from seeds last year,the wil be in there second season next summer,end i hope for some good coulors the are "Helleborus Atropurpurea. Regards and good luck

The Explorer series of roses were planted out in Kapuskasing, I believe, and whatever survived was selected. However, if you have discovered that some of the offspring are particularly attractive, I would make an assumption that since the parents are hardy, the offspring should be hardy, and I would go to the growing under lights forum and set up an indoor garden to actually grow them on through the winter. By doing this, next year you will have a good big bush to plant, and also in the middle of the winter, you can propagate your bush by taking cuttings. Given your climactic zone, I suspect your growing season is short, so multiply it with an indoor garden. I use 11 2-lamp t8 shoplight fixtures back to back, and suspended a 4 x 6' reinforced plywood from the ceiling by chains, and use that as a base for the garden, and grew out 72 Fair Bianca cuttings, taken in the fall, grown over the winter, and this year I have planted quite an awesome hedge with plants that look more like 2 years old, instead of just less than a year (which they actually are - 7 months to be precise). Indoor growing allows you to keep on the lights 24/7 continuous, and the amount of achieveable growth is prodigious and makes the effort definitely worthwhile. The heat from that bank of lamps (700-800 watts) helps to keep the house warm in the winter, so the electricity is essentially "free", because you have to heat your house anyways. I buy some heavy duty hardware from Home Depot, use 2 x 3" lumber to reinforce a 4 x 6' 1/2" plywood. This keeps the garden near the ceiling, so you can still use the floor space, if you have just a small house, like me. Sativa.