Congrats, Mindy. You're obviously really on top of your watering, I'd have trouble keeping anything in 3" pots going all summer. Even plants in 12" pots wilt awfully quickly on me if I don't water EVERY day. We got spoiled with so much rain this summer so it was easy to get out of the habit.

I bought a coleus this spring that I really like. I've been rooting cuttings to pot up for next year, but since the original plant is in a pot, would it work to just bring it in before frost? I don't have grow lights or even super sunny windows. If I try, should I cut it way back?

Last fall I brought in asparagus fern, which did very well indoors all winter. I also brought in a pretty red oxalis, which promptly died--or so I thought. I never got around to doing anything with the pot, just left it on the windowsill, and several months later it resurrected itself. I learned later that oxalis goes through a period of dormancy.

I also have some fancy geraniums which never bloomed as much as they should have--I probably didn't feed them enough or give them quite as much sun as they like--but I'm wondering whether it's worth bringing them in.

As much money as I usually end up spending on annuals, it's hard to see it all go away in the fall!

Yes, you could bring coleus indoor and grow it all winter, but it become leggy very fast.
What I do (if I remember to take cuttings before frost) is take cuttings in a fall, grow them till New Year, then take another set of cuttings and grow them till March, new sets of cuttings (third generation) taken in March become a decent size plants by May when they'll be ready to go outdoor. Abi told me she keeps one coleus this way for 30-something years since her college graduation :-))

Yeah, I'm curious as well to know how to save/overwinter some fancy pelargoniums (geraniums) and salvia 'Black and Blue'. Thanks.

Has anyone noticed that the newer coleus hybrids don't root as easily as more common ones? Gene manipulation conspiracy theory?

George - You can dig the tuber of Salvia 'Black and Blue' and save it just like a dahlia. I have luck doing the saran wrap method.

Deb

hi deb,
pray tell; from one who HAS lost dahlias before,what IS this saran wrap method? and btw,this salvia you're referring to- it's a non-hardy perennial? salvias have tubers? I am confu-zed!
plse teach me!!
thanks much,
mindy

The one time I overwintered coleus, I put the cuttings in water before first frost, kept them in water in my kitchen until February, then potted them up and put them downstairs under lights. The biggest problem is that I've figured out I don't really like coleus.

Supposedly, I have one salvia that produces tubers, but I have yet to find any actual tubers to store. So I've been overwintering tender salvias in my dining room window. It isn't really ideal, and this year I should have about 4 of them. That may be too many with the other plants that come in.

I've been overwintering a garden variety yellow dahlia that I got at the Ct plant swap for several years now. It's stored extremely reliably. This year I'll be adding a few Bishop's Children. They go in the crawlspace in a pile of vermiculite.

Mindy - I don't know which Salvias have tubers. I just know that 'Black and Blue' does. I learned of the Saran method over on the Dahlia forum the first time I needed to overwinter some. I have never tried any other way. Basically you store your tubers after regular prep by wrapping them in plastic wrap. Wrap a plant tag in with them to be organized. You can divide them beforehand or not. Both seem to do fine. I usually place mine in a small cooler (to moderate temperatures) and put in the coldest corner of my basement. I do Four O'clock tubers the same way. Most of my other tender perennial that I overwinter in the basement stay in their pots.

mg - That dahlia could have come from me from me. My first attempt at dividing dahlias yielded more than I knew what to do with. I gave a bunch away and planted the rest in a weird corner of my vegetable garden where I forgot to dig them up at the end of the season till too late! I'm glad it lives on somewhere!

Deb

Thanks so much for the advice on wintering over S. 'Black & Blue'. It's a plant that I love, and I'd been contemplating trying cutting it back and bringing in the pot, but I'll try the plastic wrap method on a couple and only bring in the one in the smallest pot.

In the past I've over-wintered Coleus by cutting it back and bringing in the pot and setting it in a sunny window. Come spring I cut it back again and putting it out in the shade for a couple of weeks to get used to the changes in light level before planting in its final spot for the summer. In my experience, the winter foliage color wasn't as nice, but they survived the winter and did fine with spring and summer regrowth.