Since gardenias soooo hate it when forced to live indoors, I'd bring it in on an as-needed basis, if possible. In containers, I'd guess that they would be safe in the mid to upper 20's. Then again, containerized plants tend to be fertilized a great deal more than those that are situated in the soil, so you might want to be even more cautious and bring them in before it gets too much under 30.

Living in the south, the Savannah Georgia area, I inherited by material grandmothers Christmas cactus' in 1979, so today I have had them for 36 years. I have been able to clip and re-root pieces from the original two CC every year, in doing so passing a new cutting to a family member each year. My grandmother had them for years so, I would guess the two CC are about 50 years old. Things to remember.......always plant in a clay pot. Clay pots tend to let the roots breath better and helps the water drain better. What I have done for the last 36 years under the advise of my grandmothers sister, give the CC Castor Oil twice a year, this tends to give the CC nourishment and you can actually see the branches stand up more and look healthier. I have always kept my CC out on the front porch until the first frost, in the South that can be anytime between Oct 1st- 15th. When brought inside, I put my CC in a corner of the room were it can get some light but not direct light, a foyer or living room which lighting at night is deem, make sure not to place near a heater or vent where the heat from the heater will directly hit the CC. Water very light ( once a week, small cup) the months of October and November, you should usually start seeing buds in November or first weeks of December. Good Luck! Lawrence Garnto, Pooler, Ga.

Ditto- But I'm just Mentioning my Perrinial Type Plants, that I have Kept Not just going for many yrs but Super Big in size as what they are from their Original warm yr round Orgins/County. I did it just as a Challange , Test to see and its worked and being Cheap . While saved the Money ( Ave $100) Rebuying them every year, I paid for it in Time and Effort .. and have you ever seen "Spikes" 4-5 ft Tall, like Mini Palm Trees? Or the same 5 ft tall Gerrainiums? or 6 ft accross Asparagus Plants? Not only blow the minds of Family and friends vistiing, but I bring one of them to our Annual-late Summer Garden show in town and have won an award every yr these past 5 yrs..Nobody has a Such Large ones as I have ! Especially all the Women & Pro's that have been doing Gardening alot longer than I have. I got One Pro Gardening Business doing the same now and they are catching up with the size of mine now! Went into their lace last Feb. and saw them in their Place/Atrium....selling for $100-$150 each! Germs 5x bigger than the usual $25 baskets with Stalks the size of Small Tree trunks! Takes Loopers to cut them or a hand saw! Just like Growing those 500-1,000 Lb Pumpkins! I grew them too for 5 yrs ! my Biggest was only 465 lbs..but started the Annual Largest Privately -Locally Grown Pumpkin contest in our town ! This Season? the Biggest was 678 lbs! by some 83 yr old Woman, that nursed it like it was one of her Grandkids, she said..! And since we're a Lake Resort town? The Great Pumpkin Boat Race was held this Yr for the 1st time too! 8 entered to win the $100 1st prize, $50/2nd and $25 for 3rd and Alot of Laughs! by the Jaycees! Special Prize ribbon went for the sexiest Owner- a 61 yr old former Playboy Bunny woman ( The Playboy Club Resort was in our town ), she did that job for its last 2 yrs in business here and She still looked GREAT in her Old Bunny Costume no less! Maybe she let out alittle In the Butt and alittle more support in the chest and wore a Wig, but her Bunny Tail & Ears were very cute & Sexy! ;-)

Since I am in the slow process of moving about 3 and a half hours north of my current position, I was not all that certain how I was going to handle my bulb collection. The southern location has enough window light to move everyone indoors when it starts to get cold, and I just allow them to struggle through the winter with lower light, and grow as they wish. At my new northern location, there is very little window space or light, so I have been forced to place them all into a forced dormancy... something I would not ordinarily do. I have a 4 shelf mini-greenhouse with a plastic cover, that can be easily rolled on casters. I placed it at the darker end of the basement, gave every Hippeastrum a haircut so they would fit on the shelves, and hung a black lawn sized garbage bag, flat, in the front, so they would stay mostly in the dark... since there's a light bulb that remains on almost all the time in the laundry room at the other end of the basement. It about killed me to cut off all those beautiful leaves, but I just didn't have a choice. The pots will dry out, and remain dry until I see some sort of life in early spring... or until such time as I am able to bring them back up out of the basement and onto the deck outside. I really hope I did the right thing... I just didn't have any other choice. I've never forced a bulb before, as most of you know... preferring to allow them to grow as houseplants, on their own schedule. I did re-pot the majority of them at the beginning of summer, using larger unglazed clay pots and putting 2, 3, or 4 bulbs together in each pot, to save space and kind of conglomerate them into a smaller collection due to space restrictions. The few other plants I have that aren't bulbs fit in a few windows, and should get enough light to make it through winter. I'm just hoping for the best... this is not my usual pattern of growth when it comes to my Amaryllids.