the issue.. indoors.. in winter is two fold... humidity indoors taking your heating system into account ... and light intensity ... especially on a plant that blooms prolifically .... its take a lot of sun energy to do such ... not to say you might not succeed in keeping a green plant alive .. but it might peter out in the blooms until its hardened off and back in sunshine outdoors ... and if i could.. i would root some cuttings.. and when they got too gangly/ugly in mid winter.. i would root a new batch ... and throw out the ugly ... and try to keep them alive that way ... so i had a bunch of small strong rooted cuttings to go outdoors in spring.. small plants are much more forgiving anything can be done indoors.. but ONLY IF .. you ID all the variables.. and perfect them to your best ability ... which also brings to mind variable 3.. and that is media moisture.. and controlling that .. which is sometimes hard in a forced air house.. with plants that prefer to be on the dry side... of which .... i dont know this plants proclivity ... ken

I'm a long way from Australia, but I have grown lisianthus from seed, and they do, indeed, grow VERY, VERY slowly. I started seeds indoors under lights in January, which was obviously not early enough. Planted outdoors in early June, they only started to bud up in early October and no flowers had opened by the time frost hit a couple of weeks later. I knew they didn't have a prayer of surviving a Minnesota winter, so I potted three of them up and overwintered them in a sunny west window. It wasn't easy, they looked awful, but perked up in spring. I planted them outdoors around June 1 and they were in bloom by early July and were quite spectacular the rest of the growing season. Since then I've bought plants. For me they grow best in rich, moist but well-drained soil and benefit from a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day. The ones I planted in sandy, poorer soil never did much in terms of growth or blooms. I fed mine with an extended release fertilizer with a high middle number. I think in very mild (no frosts/light frost) areas they might be perennials. They are bred, I believe, from a native perennial Colorado wildflower, so I think your cool nights should be very good for them. I hope others with a climate more similar to yours offer you information/advice. Good luck! Kate

Wahh! I just received the following message: "Hi, Ellie, I spoke with Dr. Deng and he said these lisianthus cultivars are not currently commercially available. They are still in the process of looking for commercial breeding companies to license these cultivars for production. You can stay periodically updated on their status by visiting the UF/IFAS Balm Research Center website. http://gcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Deng/ZDengcv.shtml Thank you for contacting the Hillsborough County Extension Service." Too bad :/ I guess I should just be patient? I'm quickly learning gardening takes patience haha (I am a newbie!! sort of...) What do y'all think?

I read Lisa Mason Ziegler's book, "Cool Flowers" this spring which teaches about a method of planting hardy annual seedlings in the fall so they can develop good root systems over the winter. The results are supposedly stronger, more vigorous, hardy annuals that flower earlier than those planted in the spring. Lisianthus is one of the hardy annuals she has used this method with and she is in zone 7, just like me:) Has anyone ever overwintered lisianthus? Or any hardy annual for that matter? I'm planning on starting the seeds by the end of the month to plant out in the fall since they take so damned long. Also...I believe this is the correct definition of overwinter, YES?