Overwintering-20 Questions or more...

lol!
(geez...I gotta get to work but this forum has me mesmerized, so to speak!)

Julie...my sunporch is really just a 'porch', I guess....but it has a large window facing west, a door facing north (brrrr...) and a sliding glass door facing south...so it's definitely *sunny*!!
The portion that would be 'east' is actually the doorway into the house.
Gets pretty warm in there during the day ( and pretty cold at night).

See, now I'm primarily and *indoor* gardener, so I do what I've gotta do to keep my charges happy!
I should cut down that banana each year, but I just can't seem to do it!......so I lug it in and out...but it slides right through the doorway into the warmth...so that's not too bad!

Nan...I know those people you work for...better go ANSWER that phone! (It might be ME. LOL)

~julie~

LOL @ julie,

I have patience for things to fill in,,,that's why I don't do all the other stuff. LOL I don't care how small something is or how big of gap I have between stuff,,,I just leave it to fill in LOL I figure I do so much with the gardens during the summer, Fall is time to relax. Once they fill in,, it will be smooth sailing,,,ummmm, until I have to start splitting stuff,,,,,and ummm, moving things to where I like them LOL,,,,and ummmmm, putsing around with weeds (I use Preen, but some of those little buggers still come up),,,,,and ummmmm, putting More beds in in Spring,,,,,and ummmm watering,,,LOL

The amount of work I have already done and continue to do is Therapy,,,,,,,maybe I should start with all the stuff you have to lift and overwinter,,,,probably I could use more Therapy LOL

Kelly

LOL,,,,gotta get back in the salon,,,,,,,,don't know why,,, but my customers just don't want a self serve salon,,,can't figure it out LOL

Kelly

My mom is always telling me I've put this or that too close together, or not close enough together, or not in the right configuration (triangle of threes, etc.) and I tell her and myself that she and I have different tastes in decorating, too. I love her house and her gardens, but they don't look like me, you know? She tells me I have good ideas, though, sometimes, and I know she means it, because I'll go to her house and she's copied them. LOL.

kbaumle,

Everyone has their own style. U do what u like and ur Mom does what she likes. I think sometimes it's hard for them to realize we are adults,,,,For my Mom it isn't,,,I remember the day she told me "I'll always be your Mother but I'm done Mothering",,,,she's awesome!!!
Now my Dad on the other hand,,,,is a Major Control Freak and Drives me nuts. He's the one that always makes the little comments,,,,"Kel, your kitchen floor isn't level". Like in the big picture that matters LOL,,,,Oh well, I just have to keep telling myself God made us All special in our own ways,,,LOL

Kelly! A self service salon! Now *that's* an idea to patent! (I don't think I'd visit though. LOL)
I have absolutely NO patience to wait for things to fill in in my beds. I stick them in as tight as I can get them, fill up the bed and then worry about how I'll divide them later. :-)

Hey...I'm OLD...I may not have that much longer and I definitely want to leave my DH with a BIG memory of *me*. hahaha

Kylee...moms can be like that. But doesn't it feel good when you see one of your ideas in HER house or garden?

~julie~

My mom is like that too. Now I'm going home...... Legit

Julie, I'm like that, too. I tend to crowd things. I tell Mom, "I can always move them later if I have to." And yeah, I do love it when I go to her house and I see my ideas there. I have great respect for my mom and her many talents, so it's a big compliment to me.

I am heading out to count what I have over wintered; be back in a couple of days. . . .

LOL @ TLC...see ya in a few days.

Kylee...you are so fortunate to have your mom and *very* fortunate to have interests in common. (I lost my mom when I was 27 (33 years ago)...and I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have with me longer.) Treasure every moment.

~julie~

I agree Julie,,,,I just Love my Mom to death,,,,she's such a wonderful person. I wish we lived closer but for right now we don't. She's one of the most intelligent people I know and I really do treasure every time we have together.

Kylee,,,julies right that's the best compliment ne1 can give u is to copy what u have done LOL

Kelly

i'm reading every word here guys! hope to learn enough to save my pennies come spring--6 years new to "snow gardening" and have been buying new each spring gaaaaaaaa!

i tried to overwinter rosemary in a south window and it croaked. my sage made it through 2 winters outside (west, near the housewall and automulched with leaves) and then did NOTHING this last spring--d.e.a.d.

will my baby hostas (25 bought at $1 each mid summer) make it out there on the pondbank?

The info on this thread just potentially saved the lives of eight pelargoniums. I had no idea that these could be overwintered and would've chucked them when they looked "done". As of this evening, they're all hanging upside down, in bunches, in a cool room downstairs.....I did take cuttings just in case though.
This is my first overwintering project so we'll see how it goes.

Thanks!

This message was edited Jun 12, 2006 12:08 PM

wabi, I would make sure your baby hostas are mulched heavily, and if it's in a windblown area, I'd put up something protective to stop the wind and make the snow pile up on them. I direct planted tissue culture hostas from several of the coops behind my gh in a concrete block cold frame and they survived wonderfully. A couple of years in there and they are ready to go to the "big beds", and believe me, these guys start tiny, so I think yours will be fine if you take precautions and their roots are established. And I'm zone 4.

Here's one I started from seed, and have overwintered each year. I don't have any pics of the real one, but there is 3 or 4 in there, and they spent their first year in a PURSE. Ya, a wicker purse with plastic lining was their planter. They had pretty shiny foliage and were about 4-6 in tall, got lots of nice comments, now they are 4-6 ft. tall, and needing a new larger pot I think. Anyone moving one of these in and out? I wonder how many years till it will bloom?? I'm starting to think of trading it with someone southerly or who has a year-round heated gh.
Madagascar jasmine, seed from Parks Seed
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53785/index.html

Here's one I over wintered for a couple of years. They look real .... in the winter, but bounce back great. I just got sick of watering them, and am trying to make myself happy with perennial grasses, but none quite touch these! Legit


Edited to add: For those of you on the grasses thread, see the baby Blue Fescue between them, I have them posted in that forum when they are all grown up!

This message was edited Oct 26, 2005 6:26 AM

Am I the only one that does absolutely NOTHING to their hostas at any time of the year and they do just great? And when I say nothing, I mean nothing.

I do that, too. Nothing. If they come back, fine. So far have lost only a couple, & that was from drying out after planting last year when we had a long dry spell.
We have some in gallon pots that have been through 2 winters, going for three.
Bernie

It has been so long since I've done anything special with my hosta. (30+years) Many years ago I did fertilize them, but that was when I only had a few.With many of mine being in Iowa it just doesn't happen.

Although I have been thinking, I may give my more persnickty hosta and plants a boost of osmocote in the spring. I hate to admit how many times I've aquired the same plants, trying to get them to survive, only to have them die.

But there are some that I just won't waste my time and money on. The ones I am talking about are the ones that make it but just don't thrive as well as others.

I've got a sore throat the size of a volcano, and I'm not for sure I'm making sense.

Annie

I understood you, Annie. Sorry about the sore throat. Those are horrible. Sometimes you wish you didn't have to breathe, because each breath hurts so much with the air going over your throat.

I do divide my hostas when they get to be too big for the area. But that's it.

tytyty y'all--every little bit helps. i'm learning here and i LOVE it!

sore froat remedy:

(combine, stir well, take by teaspoons PRN)

brandy
honey
some fresh lemon juice

(i don't know that it does anything more than soothe but with all that brandy you won't care....LOL)

hehe are you talking a fith of each!! He gads, I have a fire in my throat!

Annie

Don't get me wrong, here, I don't do all that much for them as a rule, just the ones I actually had to PAY MONEY FOR!!!! (Oh, yeah, What I do for them more than anything is slug pellets.) Legit

This is the first year I am "babying" my lovelies. Planted tons this year and some got in so late I figured better do something to give them a fighting chance. LOL,,,,I'll be like a mother hen in Spring,,,watching e 1 impatiently to come up LOL,,,Other years I haven't done much at all and they (4 the most part) have been fine. I've lost a couple here and there but,,,,sometimes u'll have that.

Kelly

Edited 2 add:

Annie, wabi's recipe is right on the money,,,,,helps tremendously

This message was edited Oct 26, 2005 11:30 AM

Wabi...I just love your name! My son calls his favorite blanket his "wabi" (He's *40* years old! LOL) Welcome to our group! (that's some kinda 'sore froat' remedy you got there, too. LOL Hmmmm, it kinda goea along with the 'Crown Royal Mouth wash' I used to use for *toothache* medicine. (Yep! You don't much *care* how much it hurt)

~julie~

Annie,
Do you suppose that's catching online?? Over night I acquired a sore throat, now the little naggy cough and the watery eyes are coming on......darn it, maybe too much digging bulbs in the rain.
Wabi, do you suppose we can use that med at work?? Legit

*holds index fingers in front of her, in the shape of a cross*

Legit,

Go ahead and use it Anytime u want,,,,,for medicinal purposes only tho LOL

Kelly

things have to be tough to survive here- I don't do nuttin in the fall = sink or swim!! I do put down a 10-10-10- on the beds come spring with one of those hand crank fertilizers. And I water faithfully during the summer and do slug patrol. I havent lost a hosta yet and have a ton that have reseeded. I can't bear to rip them out, so my hostal bed will be major crowded in a few years.

I don't think I've ever had one reseed, but boy do they multiply underground...

Kelly & Julie & Annie &etc! Howdy again!
I need to know how to overwinter coleus and my annual grasses. I have an unheated west facing sun porch, we have the vent blocked with sheet metal cuz the picture window leaks, please don't ask, LOL. Will it be too cold and/or sunny to just bring everybody in and water sparingly? I have 'Rubrum' pennisetum, toffee twist sedge and fiber optic grass that I want to save, as well as some beautiful coleus, one with pink splotches and a lime green one with dark purple stems, as well as regular orange ones. Also a red colored 'spike', but I know that will live, uh oh, just jinxed it. And a Norfolk Island pine, but that's a houseplant too, so I can bring it inside, along with aloe vera, right? Thanks for helpful advice.

PG,

Gosh, I'm not sure,,,,I haven't overwintered anything like those mentioned b4,,,I would Think some would be o.k. ,,,like the grasses and coleous, but couldn't say 4 sure.

Gives me an idea tho,,,,I'm going to try my Purple Fountain Grass as a house plant this year,,,,,oiy, another plant to water,,,,,,

PG...The coleus I've kept over were all from new plants started from cuttings. I *tried* to keep one of the original parent plants...but since they're annuals to begin with, it seems the minute they start to set seed, they are on their way out.

I can't help you with the grasses...that's what *I* want to know too. :-)

~julie~

I have also heard that Coleus does best if done with cuttings

The Purple Fountain Grass will want it to be reasonably warm, don't even think of getting near freezing or it's done. Kept mine in a West Bay Window and it still turned green for the winter and lost lots of "blades", but the roots stayed viable. Legit

Legit,,,,I have a West Bay window,,,,,,may try a South window now,,,Thanks for the info

Kelly

Thanks Legit for that info on the purple fountain grass. I couldn't even get it to survive SUMMER, much less winter!

~julie~

what ever happened to TLC? is he still counting?

annie--seriously...get some cloraseptic lozenges or the spray. it will stop the pain right now and make your tongue sounds drunk, too. hope you feel better soon))))))))

julie--how sweet! what does his wife have to say about his blankie? LOL. (my wabi is japanese, no blankie LOL)

the actual recipe is like--
1/4 c brandy
1/4 c honey
squeeze of FRESH lemon juice
and it IS mostly a palliative, but better than nothing in the middle of the night when the stores are closed. the cloraseptic will work better.

LOL Wabi...his wife 'goes along with it' but only because if he doesn't have his 'wabi' he wants his *mommy* when he's sick. :-D (Maybe I should just give him a shot of your "recipe" and he wouldn't want either one! ('Recipe' wasn't that what Gradma Clampet called her moonshine? hehehe)

~julie~

*rolling my eyes right across the floor* LOL