I need to bring mine in, it is brrr-cold out there! Do you treat yours with anything before bringing them in? I don't want to be bringing in any little critters/creepy-crawlys along with the plants.

~gillian

I have been bringing in plants for the last month and still have some outside. The house is full, the basement is packed, and I even took some to a local country auction because i'm out of room.

Today I dug the dahlias so they are out of the ground but are sitting in a bucket in the basement because I ran out of gas before I got them cleaned and ready for storage.

Some of my iris got pulled out when I pulled the sunflowers out so I need to pot them up as I don't think they will get rooted well enough to winter over. So, into pots and under lights in the basement for the winter. If i'm lucky I can harden them off next spring for some early blooms.

I normally bring in my pelargorium (what we normally call geranium) in November (before the first freeze). Then in February I begin taking cuttings. They spend the Winter and early Spring on a platform above the front door and in the sun in my foyer.

I brought my phalaenopsis orchids in at the end of September. They are outside all summer and the change in temperature as September winds down triggers the blooming cycle.

No,haven't started to do that yet. They all seem to like this weather and are showing no signs of stress. When it gets down to...well heck. I thought I'd check the weather before I finished this post and just saw that it's going down into the 40s. Forget what I just said. I'm bringing my palms inside.

I was out in my garden today. I was going to dig up my dahlias and bring them in but some are just opening so I didn't have the heart to dig them out yet.I would like to get them out before its real cold.It's a problem trying to find somewhere in the house to overwinter everything. I'd like to try ripping out my window sills and making wider ones. Have to do it while my husbands at work or I'll probably get the Noo your not doing that. lol

I think I might just pot up one of the dahlias and try to grow it under lights for awhile and get a few blooms through december. Not sure if it will work but if they survived this drought we had and the lack of attention I gave them I suspect a bit of light some heat and a dash of fertilizer they might be happy for awhile.

I brought in the bannana a few nights ago but the others are still outside. The christmas (Thanksgiving?) cactus will probably stay till it gets a bit of frost. That seems to trigger blooming. The mahogany tree gets so sad looking in the winter that I like to leave it out as long as possible.

It's that time again. I hate it having to decide which to donate to a friend, compost, or just let freeze as I always have many more in the Fall than I had in the Spring. Luckily, I was able to clear a space in front of another window, so it may not be too bad this time. My biggest problems are the vines on obelisks which have bushed out so much, and the dracena which I believe has reached a bit taller than the door opening which it has to enter through.

George

I usually wait till the first frost to bring my dahlias and other summer bulbs in that's what books seem to recomend. Patty

In the past, I always reserved the Columbus Day weekend to haul everything in. But this year, with so much else going on and a desire to hold off putting on the big lights so soon, I've been staggering the effort. I know these have to remain inside until May in most cases, so that's a long time. Plus I've been trying to decide how best to place the different types of tropicals, subtropicals, and tender perennials based on how they prefer to handle winter (whether they prefer cool darker or warm, very bright and whether they want to go completely dormant or will grow through winter).

Like others, the Christmas cactuses will stay out until a frost threat in order to get them to set some buds (although I did get some sporadic re-flowering on them this summer for the first time, which is something that others have reported can happen). I'm also leaving my gardenia out for the same reason - to get some budset going. My hoyas, citrus, oleander, coffee, tropical hibiscus, brand new papaya and banana are in. The pointsettia came in Oct 1st to get the light/dark treatment started on it. The 3 passifloras are experiencing my procrastination but will come in this weekend, as will the stephanotis, fuchsia, elephant ears, mandevilla, and 3 habanero pepper plants. Only other things after that would be my pots of wax begonias that I overwinter inside every year, my cannas (new this year), and my crape myrtle.

Too much!

I brought my tropicals in on Saturday, and of course they've all gotten huge and are cluttering up the mudroom right now. That evening we went to Home Cheapo, and I made the mistake of browsing in the houseplant department. Sure enough, I found something I just HAD to buy. A very, very cute little pot of succulents, mixed varieties in a pretty arrangement. For only $14, I couldn't resist.

I finally got everything inside EXCEPT four plumeria trees and four figs. They are currently on my outside porch. I don't want to put these guys in the basement, but I haven't any space left ;( and I cannot bring myself to prune branches.

Hehehe I placed an order with Shoal's...30- 50% off sale. I have a week or two to find space for these guys

LOL! You guys are still buying. :-p

I ended up bringing in my Christmas cactuses and gardenia last night mainly because it got so windy out there and I didn't want them to blow over and go rolling. I think once the weather settles down a bit, I might put them back out.

I am impressed by the number of plants many of you bring in for the winter. Where do you put them?

I finished bringing in Mandevillas. dracenas, and a couple of begonias. I jammed all the clivia and amaryllis into a corner to cover last night, and will clear a spot for them today. This leaves only a few oddities to get, and they are fairly easy. We had frost predicted for last night, but it did not materialize so I have another day or two of grace.

George

What do you do to make sure the plants are bug free before you bring them in?

I don't do anything about pests, the plants just come right on inside, as is. So far I haven't had any problems.

I broke down last night and lugged a bunch of stuff in. It's sitting in a corner, bugs, dirt and all until I get around to cleaning and repotting.... Sunday should be nice for this, I hope I have enough pots!

I noticed this morning that I missed a few asparagus ferns. Don't ask me why I'm taking them in, they were $1.99 or something this spring and if you look at my time and effort in overwintering, it's definately not worth it. Obviously gardening is not about the money..... at least I don't take cuttings of impatients when frost threatens! There was a time when I'd have a whole windowsill of them!

hmmmmm. Now that I'm thinking about it I remembered a four foot rubber tree potted out front..... I don't know. I may have to play this carefully. With the five foot elephant ear in the kitchen (temporarily of course) and the banana that still has to come in, I think I'm skating on thin ice plant wise. The rubber tree may be the last straw.

Plus the local nursery has it's 75% off-last weekend clearance tomorrow. If I end up in the dog house tommorrow I won't be able to sneak off, let alone come back with a car full of shrubs and trees I have no room for! It might be worth a frozen rubber tree.

Maybe I can hide the R-tree in the garage for a week or two and sneak it in later. She would never be the wiser.

hehehe (my sneaky laugh)

Sounds like we all need to add conservatories to our houses! This is the time of year I really wish I had a greenhouse.

the spare room is jammed with plants. i don't even know what they are, just that they have to come in.

i am seriously considering a greenhouse. hell...if we can live here over 3 years without furniture, obviously we really don't need it. i know my priorites ;-)

32 predicted for tonight and 31 tomorrow night. The plumeria trees and the crinum are finally coming in ;))

My 22 pelargorium plants are now inside and waiting until Spring 2006 to go outside and have fun. I dug most of them out on the last warm day and the final 6 yesterday. Put them all in pots and placed them over my front door where they see the sun.

The ages on these plants range from 5 years to 1 year. One of the old plants died outside this Summer.

The rest of the tenders and cuttings from marginals that I wanted to carry over (including my 2 big containers of cannas and my crape myrtle) were brought in Thurs. afternoon and the first frost finally hit that night on the balcony. Interestingly enough, the agastache and salvia that are still out there appear just fine so far. But those 2 and some other containered marginals like a new osmanthus and a minature pieris, along with some newly planted young hardies in smaller pots (eg., a whole bunch of seedling red hot pokers, an itea, a clethra, a seelding milkweed, and a tiny beautyberry cutting) that are still outside, are going to have to watched and shifted depending on the temps once winter sets in.