Overwintering in New England...

Hi Everyone! I'm a totally obsessed plant person and so glad to meet other like-minded folks! We live in SE Mass, near the Cape, so it stays a bit warmer longer here - but I have a few questions about wintering over things.

Do you dig up your impatiens? I know it sounds crazy, but will they bloom in the house?

What about your Caladium? Mine are growing in the ground - wondering if I should dig 'em up and put 'em in the garage...

How about tropical ferns that I bought at Ikea....they are growing happily in the ground, but I know they won't survive our winters here.

And my 4'-5' tall elephant ear - I've tried with very limited success to bring in the tuber(?) in years past - but I never have the heart to cut down the plant before the 1st frost. They are breathtaking in the yard! Has anyone ever dug them up and continued to grow them in the house with any success?

It's been very warm here, and I just hate to bring stuff in now - everything seems to be growing so vigourously....i trimmed all the old/decaying growth off the petasites and there's a brand new flush of very happy growth underneath....the astilbe is re-growing (if that makes any sense!)...and i'm still planting evergreens that I'm finding at the local nurseries for 50% off (mostly hinoki cypress - one of my obsession plants!).

Stop me before I buy again!!! Everyday I'm plotting WHICH nursery to hit to see what they have on sale!!

Thanks - Kara

Oops - meant to attach a photo of said elephant ear..

Kara,
I am a hinoki addict myself and have found some wonderful varieties at Avant Gardens in the past. I am far from an expert when it comes to over wintering but you might begin by asking yourself is this plant an annual or a tender perennial? If it is an annual such as impatiens they have a very specific life span of one year regardless of their temperature and light requirements. If the plant is a tender perennial such as coleus or zonal geraniums many people will make the effort to bringing indoors a cutting at the very least. kt

Re: Elephant Ear, sorry to say but it wont survive in the house, the bulb needs to rest for the winter.
Christine

Kara, I brought in my Colocasia 'Black magic' in its pot last year. It survived the whiteflies and the infrequent watering, the leaves came up green.
Late May I brought it back out and kept it in a shady protected spot for several weeks to acclimatize.
It bounced back and produced black leaves again.

Here it is in its summer home about a month ago

Hi All,
a few years ago I brought one caladium inside to my office. It did overwinter, but it never really flourished like it did in the summer garden.

Even our radio gardening guy said it's not worth the trouble.

For plants that are truly annuals like impatiens, I think you should toss them out and grow new plants next year. They start to look tired in the fall and the plants natural life cycle is only as an annual so they are supposed to die off. On the other hand you can take cuttings if you want and start new plants -- I know someone who does this with success. The one exception is if you have geraniums, I have read they do well bringing them to a southern exposure window.

I am planning on bringing in my Elephant Ear Illustris. This type doesn't have tuber so it can't be made to go dormant like other ones. I have grown quite attached to it and it seems to have a personality (!) unlike my other plants so it is worth trying to save...

Sue

I have brought in my amaryllis bulbs and started to dry them out. I am doing the same thing this morning to my elephant ear. They can overwinter in the basement in the dark. The bulbs and tuber were very large to start with this spring and should come back. I have a bunch of caladium but they were smaller plants and i am going to let those go for the winter. New ones are cheap and I started them early indoors, but they didn't do a thing until I planted them outside so a new bag of them from costco will do the trick next spring. I liked the way they looked in my containers, but I would be more successful in keeping the geraniums that were in them than the caladiums.
Martha

Martha: I received a huge amaryllis from my son, for Christmas. It even rebloomed with seven enormous flowers in March. Now it has huge leaves and is outside. What do I do next?

you need to let it dry out and lose its foliage and rest. Then, start watering it again and it should put out new shoots. I had to bring mine inside {I have two large ones} because it keeps raining on them. These were from my sorry attempt to force them for the flower show in March. I started them too late. They bloomed around easter and were gorgeous, but too late for the show.
Martha

Thank you very much! When do I wake them up - is it two months before Christmas?

I usually don't bring annuals inside since they are so easy to start from seed, but I do take cuttings of Geraniums and sometimes Coleus, which grow nicely over the winter and often bloom in early spring. If they grow too fast, I just take cuttings again for summer bloom.

Plymouth, WHich kind of EE are they? Brian WIlliams of Louisville, KY has had success with overwintering quite a few varieties of Colocasia in the ground with no other protection than 6 inches of leaf or hardwood mulch. He's even had C. 'Pink China', which is a prolific stolon producer, send stolons up so that the bulb on the end of the stolon was ABOVE the mulch, and the bulb sprouted (after being totally exposed to typical Z 6 winter weather) the following spring. He's also successfully overwintered Colocasia gigantea without mulch as well.... I've got both varieties from him, along with one of the more interesting semi-hardy varieties (requiring the 6 in of mulch).... You could Dmail him and see what he has to say about it...

Pirl: You wrote a while ago: "Even our radio gardening guy said it's not worth the trouble." What plant were you referring to? I'd love to overwinter caladium, but I am not a glutton for punishment.

Yes, Caladium. He mentioned it again within the last few weeks and said the corms have to be firm and if they begin to soften it's a lost cause. I ordered more but kept the old ones - just in case they will grow. I do it all the time and they never grow. They want 70 degrees to start to grow. Hope that helps.

i used to try and save them and dahlias...not any more..they alwys rotted or such. now there annuals

That's what most of the pro's say - treat them as annuals.

oh good pirl, now i can call myself a "pro". LOL
not....
debi z & franklin

Yes, you can!

Think about it - you determined it all by yourself - that's a talent in itself.

OMG...this thread made me rush to the attic stairs to check on the canna, dahlia and caladium bulbs. None are squishy..as in wet or moist, but some "give" to pressure. Is this okay? I don't want to give up on them yet!

give to pressure doesn't sound to good. i would get those out of there, before they contaminate the others.
debi

Sorry to join in so late to this thread.

I've had many different "annuals" (actually tender perennials) growing in pots over the years and often I've been able to bring them into the house to overwinter. They include both scented and regular pelargoniums (geraniums), coleus, a double-flowered impatients, calla lilies, and herbs like rosemary and bay. I usually hose off the plant and the pot, check for pests and spray with light horticultural oil if needed, and then trim back before bringing in to put in a sunny window. In spring I repot , adding good compost to the soil and set out in the shade for a couple of weeks and then gradually give it more sun. It's a way to keep a particular cultivar that I've enjoyed and lets me have a bit more greenery in the house during our long winters, as well as fresh herbs.

I've also overwintered the tuber of an ornamental sweet potato on the floor of a cool closet, though I don't think I've tried other ornamental tubers.

Runktrun mentioned Avant Gardens above; their catalog has information on overwintering tender perennials and it may be on their website as well.

The ornamental sweet potatoes will sprout given warmth and spring time sunshine, even though they can look dead in winter. As long as they're not soft don't give up on them.