I've garaged Gerber daisies, large portulacas & moss rose, mandevilla and moonflowers.

The Gerbers really benefit from some sun and water. If we have a week or two of nice weather, I drag everything outside and give it a small drink.

I've had some success with potato vine. In fact, mine was growing at the bottom of a plumeria. I kept it in my garage this past winter, without water and it came back strong this summer. Another classic is angel wings begonia. Mine lose most of their leaves, but I've "overwintered" them now for 10 years.

Thanks, I think I'll try letting my new purslane go dormant. I love Gerber Daisies but mine are in the ground.

I have potato vine planted in with my upright elephant ears. I sure hope mine come back. That would be great.

I never thought of putting Angel Wing Begonias in the garage. I already gave mine away. Dang!

I wonder if it will work on Mona Lavendar.

I bring ti leaf in for the winter and just water it every couple of weeks and it does great. I let my hawaiian ginger go dormant in a pot and it comes back every year too.

I think I'll bring in my pot of variegated ginger instead of covering it up outside. Thanks for reminding me.
I didn't know what Ti Leaf plant was so I googled it and it's very useful.

Here's a member of our garden club wearing the cape he made from the leaves of a Ti Leaf plant.

HEY!!!!!! Don't make me disclose the crazy stuff you wear missy!!! Plus, look at that snazzy jacket. I just wanted to borrow it and he took it the wrong way.

Do I have to overwinter Cannas in zone 7b? How's about African Iris????PJ

That is a pretty cool outfit. My husband is from Hawaii so it doesn't look at all strange to me, lol.

His shovel does look a bit dull. At least he is partially protected from the sun.

You're right Kathy, he does need a new shovel. lol

I think he should crochet some britches out of those leaves.
That flap may not work too good on a windy day. lol

Hmmm, I think my husband stole his shovel. Its leaning up against the display rack with the other stuff from Hawaii right next to a feathered warrior helmet, lol.

I think I dated him when I lived in Hawaii!

Now let me get this staight, ya'll bring in plumeria? And ginger? And begonias? And brugs?? What do you do with them? Do they spend the winter in a dark, unheated room somewhere? What exactly is dormant anyway?
If it gets really cold I might drag a couple of things into the kitchen but unless there is a hurricane headed this way they all stay where they are, year round. Most of them are planted in the ground anyway.

Oh, never mind, zone 8, I think I was banished to zone 8 in the past but I never went.
Tally HO!

Hush yo mouth! I'm in 7b and we get ice!!!! However, we do get to dry out once in a while unlike some soggy folks!(snicker...) PJ

O.K. Tally, we all can't live on an island.......for no man is an island.....ya whatever.....Us folks up here in zone 7-8 have to park our cars in the garage in the winter time. With all of our flora and fona, crushed into the front wall of the garage, in front of the car and pray that our little gems will leaf about again come Spring.....David in Arlington

That's true Tally but you can't have this in your zone:
{{gwi:686499}}
WEEPING CHERRY TREE

And how about this:
{{gwi:1354812}}
STAINED GLASS HOSTA

NEENER NEENER NEENER

I store my potted brugs, plumeria, angel wing begonias and bleeding heart (clerondendrum thompsonaie) in the garage. I induce dormancy by reducing water slowly thru november/december, usually no water in Jan then gradually start watering in middle feb. This has worked really well for me since I have enough to do providing "winter protection" for my in-ground plants.
Molly

Ooooh I want a weeping cherry tree! As to the other stuff we just moved into this house a few months ago from an apt. When we lived there we brought in 2 large plumeria (you couldn't use the sliding glass doors anymore they blocked it), 2 smaller plumeria and 3 ti leaf went into the guest bedroom ( had to climb over to get to the bed) and my queen of the night epiphyllum went on top of the fridge. Since I moved here I will also have to bring in 2 hybiscus trees, Hawaiin air plant, brugnasia, datura, and various other things I want to make sure survive. I water mine only when they are very dry and do fine til spring when I move them back outdoors. The plumeria will lose its leaves but they come back.

David, I just wish I had another garage. One for plants and another one for my car. lol

I may try your way Molly.

Several of my brugs are in the ground but some of mine I take in. I also have most of my gingers in the ground.

PJ, I forgot to tell you that cannas will come back no matter what. Here in our area they're tough as nails.

Tally
you mean you don't do the winter watusi? In then out until the end of the hard freezes. It helps keep upper body strength for the spring.

We do something really crazy: our own Arlington Big Dig. The temps drop and we dig up and drag anything I can't bare to see freeze away. 3 potted brugs and whatever I can stick in around them, the datura that's as tall as I am and in a heavy pot, pentas...yes dinky little pentas and tall oldfashioned ones get pushed into pots and window boxes and hauled into a not-so sturdy greenhouse that may stay above freezing.

This might include ornamental peppers if I can rationalize it and if the body keeps going. Last year I dug up the varigated leaf gingers I bought on sale...you should see them now! Wait a minute I think I must be in zonal denial!

Yes my canna and ginger stay outside in pots for the winter. I hope I get my new bed done and get them in the ground next spring.

Sorta on this page----I picked up a large junked rectangular glass-topped patio table with an umbrella hole in the center that I am hoping to use as a mini greenhouse of sorts this winter for small potted things. Has anyone tried this? I am wondering how it will stay warm at night and what I might use to surround it to keep in any heat. Something very very temporary. Maybe hay or bagged leaves. I also have 2 fruiting Meyer lemons in very large heavy pots, too big to move (Last year 2 died down but eventually came back!) Has anyone tried any method of overwintering these while outside at least till the lemons are ripe? Would love to hear from you!

Cynthia, when we have our "Big Dig" and "Move 'Em in the Garage Day" I hear my DH say some words I've never heard him say before. Actually, I think he said those same words when he did wallpapering for the first time in the 70s.

He keeps telling me to stop making big pots of plants that we have to bring inside every year. What he doesn't realize is that I've added to them this year instead of taking away.

I must find a plant dolly before he explodes.

red_geranium, you might go to a garage sale and find some flannel sheets pretty cheap and put them around the plants for insulation.

Lowes has an inexpensive (about $40) hand truck that folds flat. I wished it was a little taller.

Would you let me know what you find?

c

I had a lemon tree in a really big pot I couldn't move in Lousiana I put thick mulch in the pot. Wrapped old carpet pad around it and built a 3 sided arbor behind it with lattice to protect from north wind to which I stapled clear plastic. If we had a hard freeze I would drape a blanket over the entire structure. It worked great and didn't have any die back it would actually bloom during warm spells. Then in the spring I would take plastic down and plant a flowering vine on the arbor. Made a great focal point in my yard.

I'm going to check out Big Lots. They had some fairly nice ones last time I went there. The folding one would be good.

F4F, I made a lean-to thing kind of like that one year but I like your idea better. Being able to use it afterwards is nice.

Once in a while, like every 10 years or so, I drag a couple of plants in for the night. I can't imagine what I'd do if they had to stay in for a month! Or longer!!!

I can't grow bearded iris or painters pallete or lilacs...

And ya'll don't have hurricanes.
But I'm pulling weeds and fighting skeeters in January while ya'll are lounging around the fire and eating bonbons while looking at garden catalogs.

I don't even have a garage, you can call my husband and ask him. What was that song? I think he said "you can call my wife.."
Tally HO!

I think in a perfect world we could have plants outside all year round and even blooms in January.

Hey wait a minute, that's Hawaii. lol

I need to live there.

We don't need to move to hawaii! We need to build a REALLY BIG greenhouse over our entire property. I've seen them that big on line so I know it can be done! It might get a bit musty tho...PJ

How about the big enclosed gardens like in Moody Gardens.

I'd love to live there.

Carolann, I bring my mona lavender inside the house.
I had one last several years that way. Do cuttings of it and root them in water. The cuttings are insurance just in case.

Y'all are so funny. You wouldn't believe how many BIG plants I have to pull into the garage every year. I cut back my mandevilla vine to bring it in. I have huge tropical hibiscus', philodendron selloum, an esperanza I also cut back, angel wing begonias & huge bougainvilla. Also a huge hawaiian schefflera that bloomed last year.
I buy a roll of burlap at Lowes for about $10 & hang strips of it over my in-ground tender plants, such as a Sago Palm. Also old king size sheets from a thrift store (that I wouldn't put on my bed) are just great for coverings.
Also, if you can pull you tender potted plants up against the south side of your house (if it's feasible) it stays warmer there. You can also cover them if it's too cold. I've done that every year for some plants.
Good luck

You know what I had to do???

This summer, I had to bring in some of my potted plants. Too much rain!!! (And snails)

Last summer, just the opposite, I bought some in because of the awful heat.

I never once imagined that I would need to bring my potted plants inside during the summer to protect them from the rain!! Never ever.

I forgot to bring my yuccas inside and I've lost a few to rot.

For winter: I will dig and bring in my tropical hibiscus, possibly tropical bird of paradise. And surprisingly: Salvia Coccinea. The reason for the salvia: It's a long story, but I need the blooms early in the spring.

Tropical hibiscus is hardy here, but it will bloom much earlier, if it is yanked out and allowed to grow during the winter.

All of these types do better if put in the house or an area where they can get some sun light.

In San Antonio, we keep most plants in the ground, so we do the "blanket shuffle".

One tasteful thing that can be done on small plants: Put an overturned pot over them.

Isn't it nice to be having this conversation in early Sept?

Remember last year?

OK, I think ya'll are pulling my leg. You don't REALLY dig up plants & move them in for months.

AND we do have plants outside all year, in January there is an average of about 20 things that are blooming, I think that's when I got shipped off to zone 8.

Ya'll move on down to the island, there are plenty of houses, you can stand on the corner & count at least 8 houses for sale, NOONE lives in my neighborhood! I swear! All the houses across the street are empty-out-of-town owners, the next block has only 1 occupied house and the 2 blocks around the corner only have about 10% occupancy. Some neighborhoods are even worse. While it may seem nice, the vagrants sit on the porches or under the houses, noone picks up trash or mows or trims trees, when a storm blows down branches they just block the streets and sidewalks...AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!
Tally HO!