You could pot them and put them in the garage or basement then slowly move them outside.

Hi Molly, kmstx, and StarLucid, Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully, I can answer most of the questions posed in the above two posts. Although I do get occasional flowers now and then, I find cool nights are what set the buds for my plants and some of my plants need cooler nights than the others, for bloom bursts like the pictures above. For me, fertilizer always helps...I have now switched to the green powder stuff you apply with your hose...I soak each plant for 2-3 minutes with fertilizer...remember, my plants are in the ground and now 8 feet tall. I do this every 6 days or so now and they are really responding much better than throwing the dry fertilizer on the ground around the plants. Yes, if your plant died back to the ground or you cut it back, it will need to "Y" again (I really dislike using that term...however, I cannot come up with a better one...LOL!) before it flowers. Mine do and I cut them back to 5 feet tall in the Fall. For over-Wintering, in my opinion, I truely think it is best to bring in your pot (or if your plant is in the ground, dig up the rootball and pot) and place near a sunny window and continue it to grow during the Winter. Even if you do not have a nice sunny window, good bright light will help. The larger plant you save without cutting back is best, say if your plant is under 4 feet tall and you can handle one that size in your livingroom, dining room, or a bedroom. If you trim yours back as I have to do to mine, then only trim back as minimal as you need to...remembering that in may grow 1-2 feet in the Spring prior to weather allowing you to take it outside. If you saw what I did to my plants with a big pruners, you'd weep! (Also, if you cut it back so there are little or no leaves, realize that it will not need frequent watering until it leafs out again.) Will it end up dropping its leaves? Yes, in time. Will it make a mess, probably. And it may even end up looking bad and go semi-dormant during the dead of Winter. And in February or so, you may get "blessed" with a ravaging infestation of spidermites and whitefly! Water sparingly over the Winter, but do not let it go bone dry. You need to keep the roots alive. When I water in the Winter, I soak my plants thoroughly but do NOT let them sit in standing water in a tray. Then I let them go until the soil is dry on top or they look like they may wilt. It can be a couple a weeks between watering. In the early Spring it will start its growth again and you will have a plant that will have a few flowers when you put it outside, if not a few inside. As they grow, your watering may need to increase some. The larger the pot your brug is in the better, brugs need a good large root system to perform well in our hot Summers. If you have good soil, then in the ground will be even better for the Summers as mine are. By the way, I do not even attempt to dig up the entire rootball...I am not totally nuts! You can read what I wrote about that early in this thread. I have not done the "bucketing" but TNGreenThumb outlines it above in this thread. Hopefully, I have covered everything...if not, ask away. Wildcat

Sabji : do you have any fenugreek seeds? I have some variegated basil if you are interested Magick: Re you still looking for Stella d oro lily? Would like your white rebloom azalea. Or maybe you would like a variegated basil? Gail, I am jealous! Get something awesome! I will be joining everyone next year for that event. Camelialover: I have set aside purple balloon flower seeds, yellow iris, and Persian shield for your thalictrum, agapanthus, and spirea

vnginger, I'm so sorry that I didn't get your email! I don't know what's going on with gardenweb lately. No emails get through and they wiped out my trade list months ago, too. Since there are 2 of the terrariums, I could give Kathy one of them and give you the other, if that would be ok with her? Or else I'll look and see if I have something similar at the house to bring for you. I won't have internet access tonight or tomorrow, though, so I'll have to assume it will work out for the best. I know she also wanted hummingbird feeders and I'll be bringing some of those for her. I'm also going to bring some regular hummingbird feeders for the general trade - I've decided to give up on feeders for hummingbirds, as I can't seem to attract them. So I'm getting rid of not only the fancy glass ones I bought at Pike's and posted photos of, but also the regular ones with the red plastic feeder ports. I have 2 of those to bring, one of which I think is sort of nice, except that it needs a new plastic bottle (any sort of shampoo or soap bottle can work). And I found a few other things to bring, including a very large, very sturdy macrame plant hanger. This thing was made by someone probably in the 60's, it is a dark orange color with some large beads incorporated in the macrame. It looks like it can hold a very large and heavy plant, for someone who's into things from that era. Also I dug up a piece of a miniature hosta that I don't know the name of, but it's a pretty golden yellow color, and a small division of arum italicum, and found a couple of pots of creeping raspberry (groundcover). Also potted a volunteer coneflower (probably pink) and volunteer blackeyed susans, and a yellow variegated vinca. These things will all have to go into the general trade since I won't have email tonight or tomorrow. Debbie