Hibiscus: Wintering over hibiscus in the far north, 1 by joanlc

joanlc wrote:
Hi. I've been reading lots of the links on the sticky "helpful information" links. Maybe not *all* of it! But I don't see much that addresses the specific conditions that I have to address with tropical hibiscus in Minnesota.

So last spring I got a beautiful hibiscus for a song at a garden center in Minneapolis, and brought it north. I think it was cheap because it needed to be up-potted, and they didn't want to be bothered. So I took care of that, and had a spectacular summer with this plant in my backyard fire circle area. See photo.

As fall came on and temperatures dropped, I did let it get chilly, reduced watering, stopped fertilizing - all the things we do up here, to tell a plant it's time to take a rest. And now it's in the house. Quite a few leaves are yellowing of course, as might be expected. Drier, warmer air, not as much light.

So my plan is to give it a decent amount of light and moisture but no fertilizer, until January, when the days begin to lengthen noticeably. It's going to get ugly! But I can stand it. Then I'll cut it back by about a third, move it into as much sun as I can find for it (probably only four hours a day through the window) and when new leaves start to grow, fertilize lightly.

The question is - how does this plan match up to what any other of you northern gardeners have done, and had succeed? Given the conditions, are there modifications you would suggest? Because I can't really change the conditions. It's got to be able to make it as a houseplant. Unless putting it out in the shop would be better, or at least acceptable/comparable (40F all winter, and not a lot of light because the southeast facing window is shaded by evergreens to the right/west side).

I will have to winter this plant over every year. I can't keep putting it in bigger and bigger pots (my back and home have limits), and I doubt I can "bonsai" it forever either. Right? Unless one can prune roots as well as tops. Anyone done that, when re-potting? It would be great if I could keep moving up pot size, as far as a 10-gallon. But ... that's unrealistic.

So if I want to have survival insurance, ought I take cuttings and get some daughter plants, and eventually say bye-bye to Momma? And if I'm planning to take a cutting anyway, would it be a doomed enterprise to do it now (since I'm going to prune in midwinter anyway) and see what happens?

What do you think? Thanks -

Joan