Kimberly Queen advice, please

I bought 3 of these this year, I'd never seen them or paid attention.... I LOVE them, They cam in gal/gal1/2 container and I potted up. They have filled the pots and are so lush. I even have this one in FULL till about 3 or 4 o'clock. My question is: How shall I over-winter?
1. Just put them in the basement (gets some light through a small south window and stays around 60 degrees) and keep watered?
2. Cut off foliage and water sparingly or frequently?
3. Throw em' out cause I have too much already and buy new next year?

Is anyone growing this fern?

Well....it looks a lot like one I have.

How I winter my not hardy ferns is:

I bring them in to an unheated south facing bathroom in our garage. They get bigger and bigger every year, and this is a small bathroom. LOL

One sits on the toilet seat, others sit on the cabinet and just about cover the sink and I hang one from the curtain rod. I try to keep them watered, by spring the bathroom is covered with fallen leaves and they look terrible. But I put them out and they grow lush and bigger.

Susan
=^..^=

Thanks, Susan. I wondered about cutting them back before I bring them in and not giving so much light and keeping moist, not wet..... I just don't want the mess, but I'll have one anyway.... is your bathroom warm? 70+?

Oh noooo, not at all, it is completely unheated, gets down into the 40's, doesn't freeze though. I have a space heater in the garage when it gets really cold for some of my kitties.

It is a BIG mess, let me tell you, but I have had these for so long, I just can't let them die. LOL

Susan
=^..^=

I think I will just put them in the basement with the rest of the "family". Stays above 40 and below 60. If they make it (I hope) they do, if not I'll try something different with them next year. Thanks, Susan.

Be sure they get some light down there. They do like the light.

Susan
=^..^=

There is a south window down there, up at the upstairs floor level, I'm able to keep brugs alive... guess I'll just try it. Thanks Susan. Do you like aroids?

Oh AuntB Bring it in and find a nice spot for it, and enjoy it throught the winter. Sure it will drop some leaves but the enjoyment far out weighs the mess. I put mine on a corner table in my bedroom. I put a string of lights on it for Christmas and enjoy it even more. The mess starts around January. Put them in the basement then If it is too bad. shirleyt

Oh, Shirley, I'm sure I couldn't find room for ALL 3 upstairs! (Maybe 1... or 2...na, just one) It's about January I'm moving plants around anyway. I'll try both ways and see which I like. Thanks for the push! -B

AuntB

I have three of the Kimberly Queens and have had them for several years. We put them in a double garage with a small electric heater. The garage has one window in it and I have to repot them each year I bring them out. My husband says no more repotting or we won't be able to handle them. They are huge!! I am like you - I LOVE these plants!!!!!

I'm so glad to hear that daylily! Thank you! They sure don't act like any fern I've ever had. I kind of agree with your DH... I'll pot up one size more, and then year after next, I'll try dividing to get MORE! (and maybe share a few). So versatile.. you can put them anywhere and they just look great.

AuntB I have two of mine sitting on a back step on the east side of the house and they get FULL east sun of a morning. The other one is sitting on a back patio that gets a lot of afternoon sun and they are all three happy as larks. When I bring them out of the garage in the spring I have a lot of dead stems to cut out, but you have to fight all the good fronds to get to them. I have never cut them back and my husband waters my plants (I put a ton of them in the garage) a couple of times through the winter - not a lot - just a little.

Hmmm, not a lot of water in winter... bring out, trim up, acclimate to being outside and bam! Instant tropical look! Definately a keeper! Sounds like my kind of plant. Thanks for the advice, Daylily!

For all ferns in pots......I get clear very large plastic trash bags from Sam's warehouse, put pot and all into the bag without cutting it back, tie it off, put them where they can get indirect light, forms it's on greenhouse no need to water.. Come spring I take bag and all outside, slit the bag and take it off, shake the plant to get rid of the leaves which have died, water well if you don't have water standing in the bag, then the next day use Miracle gro. Bigger and better every year.

Judy

Thanks for the idea, Judy. No water or air? Didn't quite understand the greenhouse sentence... Might try a boston fern that way, they are awful about shedding....

I used an old clear, drawstring plastic bag for a Persian Shield I needed to propagate. It needed some humidity, so I put the pot and all in there and it worked like a charm. I'm thinking I'm gonna do all my large container plants in plastic bags for the winter, creating mini "greenhouses" for each one. They'll be on an east facing patio for the winter, and will get enough sunlight to make condensation inside the bags. They'll stay warm and humidified (hopefully). I'm certainly gonna do my "toilet" ferns in the bag!

Thanks for the affirmation, Judy!

Judy and AuntB,
My ferns!

Judy and AuntB,
My "toilet" ferns!

One more

P.S. Can you all identify my ferns, please?

My special fern this year. I know I have posted this fern before but I feel it is even more amazing this season... I think this is a kimberly but I am not sure...shirleyt

This should be better. sorry

Sorry Gymgirl, I don't know fern types. I have Lady Fern outside on the north side of my house. Boston ferns hanging on the porch and the kimberlys... Shirleyt, looks like a kimberley to me.

Aunt B How did your fern do for the winter. Mine did great check it out. I kept it inside in the corner of the dining room and it smiled at me all winter. When we put it outside we cut out the old fronds as the new ones appeared and wa la beauty again from my found by the road side treasure. I have enjoyed this fern for years.

Hi Shirley! BEAUTIFUL!! Mine stayed in the basement.. some light, I watered more often than I do the brugs, but they still turned brown. I wish I'd have watered more.... in Spring I cut one back to about 3 or 4 inches and let the other two green back up on their own.... I did have to cut the old frond stems out, they made them look shabby. It really didn't take long for them to be full and lush. I don't have pics down loaded to my computer, yet. The one I cut back didn't do so well. I ended up breaking it apart and I'm attempting to start some babies, but they aren't really making much progress. I found small little "jelly-like" inside, hard outside, kind of clear dime to quarter-sized balls in the potting mix. Reminded me of asparagus fern "roots". A friend kept his in cool/well lit area, very pretty all winter, but mine almost look as lush as his.. I learned somewhere, they don't like to grow in the ground, just in pots. They must like their feet cramped.