Gerbera Daisy-Annual??

I have a Terra Cotta orange Gerbera that was planted in a window box arrangement last summer (2014) spent the entire summer in a hot, sunny spot and stayed in bloom almost continually.
I put the window box in my (cold!!) Ohio basement in early November with some geraniums, rosemary etc. to winter over. It put out three perfect blooms within a few weeks and those same three blooms are still beautiful! I water these plants periodically and have shop lights on a timer over them. Today it was 40 degrees down there.
I am amazed with the Gerberas -never thought of them as a plant I could carry over! has anyone else had experience with getting more than a single year of bloom from them? I'm mourning the loss of all the pretty ones I've tossed at the end of summers past!!
Thanks for any sharing of your experiences. MW

I remember a long time ago reading a poster say that they overwintered theirs and it took three years for the daisies to really be spectacular plants. I've tried a couple of times but they always got aphids or mildew.

Thanks, Loretta!
Since they are still alive I will try my luck with carrying them over-IF spring ever gets to northwestern Ohio!! I'm beginning to doubt it after all these weeks of alternating below O temps and snowfalls! With all the layers of snow, ice, snow, ice etc. it looks like some sort of weird weather lasagna out there!
The picture is of the frozen tundra that is my backyard!

Of course you should do it! I've had great luck with plants one year and not the next. You never know. If you can get it to the third year, you can see if that poster was right.
My backyard looks just as frozen as yours but sans Greenhouse! Is that yours? I'm jealous!

Yes it is mine. I bought it used about 10 years ago. I haven't use3d it as much as I thought I would but I just retired last year so I have an experiment going on in there for this winter.
In the past I've always dug and divided many perennials in fall, potted them then buried them in the garden for winter. It worked great and I had lots of well rooted, potted plants to sell at the flea market.
A local grower (with 10 huge greenhouses) told me to try just using the greenhouse without heat to winter things over so I have Rose of Sharon, hosta, mums and a few other things in there. She advised checking for moisture when ever the sun raised the temp above freezing so I've been doing that.
I have a big round thermometer in there (I can check it from inside the house with my binoculars!!) and it is amazing to see it go up to 75 degrees when it is barely in the 20's outside.
I also have several kid's wading pools in the basement under lights and full of plants so I hope to have some survivors of this awful winter!
Hope spring is here (and in N.J.) soon! MW

mwhit ~ Where did you find your used greenhouse? I am hoping for a greenhouse after we move, but most houses do not come with them.

Sorry for the long delay in responding! I forgot to check this post for comments. The greenhouse came from a guy my husband worked with- really just lucked into it.
Not at all happy about my above mentioned experiment. Lost 100% of plants kept over winter in greenhouse! I think I'll go back to my old plan and re-pot and bury until next spring. Right now the greenhouse is just glorified storage for extra pots etc.!
Picture is of another "experiment" Trying for a driftwood and succulent arrangement. Some didn't winter over-seems like a theme here!
MW

Well that stinks! Did you ever check to see how cold it got at night?

How did your daisy overwinter?

Fabulous! Bloomed all summer again so is tucked into the basement with several others I bought over the summer. Yaaaay me!

That's fantastic! I've never had any GD bloom continuously. Do you fertilize a lot?