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Rocky Mountain Gardening

Overwintering Plants Indoors

9 years ago

Hey guys, I brought in the parsley, spearmint, meyer lemon, rosemary, and lavender for the winter and have set them all in windows. Most seem fine, but the mint just keeps crisping up and acting like it is not getting enough water. Is that just what it does in winter, even indoors?? Should I cut it down some to revive it?

The lemon tree has curled leaves even though it's fertilized.... I'm assuming this is normal in winter? I may have let it get to 40 outside before I brought it in, so that may be what's up. It does have a ton of new flower buds all over it though, so it can't be too bad off.

The parsely is also a bit on the yellow side, but only on older leaves. I brought them all in well before any frosts or inclement weather. Is this all just normal winter stuff here, even indoors? Or what is up?

Happy holidays, fellow gardeners.

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Comments (3)

digit
9 years ago
Thank you for the holiday wishes and same to you, GarnerGarden!

I think that the peppermint would have been happier, outside. The indoor air is probably too dry for it and my peppermint, and several other mints, do fine outdoors through the winter. Obviously, it's in a pot so that puts the roots more at risk to the cold. Perhaps, you could sink it, pot and all, in a hole outdoors.

The rosemary needs winter protection. Some of the lavender does but I don't really know. Don't know about the proper care of the lemon, either ...

Parsley is a biennial. I sow parsley seed every year for fresh plants. I think it will, more or less, be okay on its own. When I was a kid, we had a little parsley patch that always had some nice leaves. I think only some of the plants were flowering each year and that there were several so that they were always at different stages of development.

About the rosemary, it would probably need to go dormant, or nearly so. I would lose as many as half my rosemary plants trying to keep them in a too warm basement over winter. I finally began keeping them on the floor of an unheated greenhouse and covering the plants when they would be going much below freezing.

hope some of this helps a little.

Steve
stevation
9 years ago
I can vouch that lavender lives fine through my zone 5 winter. In fact it grows like weeds around this place
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garnergarden
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the replies and holiday wishes :). I spoke with my landscape/horticulture teacher and he said mint likes to die back this time of year and that I may have waited a few degrees too long to bring it in.

So, most likely it started into it's winter die back phase and no amount of warmth or care can reverse the process. He said I may as well cut er' down to nearly ground level and reacclimate it to being outside (basically hardening off again lol).

He mentioned to water it once it's ready to be back out over night and that the ice ball will actually protect the roots. He said that only works if it's in a shadier spot where it won't thaw and refreeze though. Hope this helps anyone else that is curious.

Take care guys and stay warm, gosh darnit!

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