1. Always check plants for insect activity before you bring them indoors. We recommend cutting larger plants back to remove excess growth, and spraying with an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil as a preventative measure.
2. Rather than bringing in large potted pants for the winter, (unless of course you have lots of room), we recommend taking late summer cuttings easy to root plants such as Coleus and Plectranthus. Root in sand or soil mix and pot up in small 4" pots to winter over on a sunny window sill.
3. Plants that seem to do best with the dry heat of our home heating systems tend to be from arid regions. Some examples are tender succulents such as Echeveria and Kalanchoe which will grow quite well in a sunny window. Fleshy leaved Hebe are quite easy indoors, as are most Pelargoniums. If you have less sun, Begonias make the indoor transition well. They actually seem to do better indoors than
in our greenhouse.
4. Plants with fleshy underground tubers, bulbs or rhizomes, such as Dahlia, Begonia sutherlandii or boliviensis, Salvia guaranitica and patens, Mirabilis, Oxalis, Alocasia, Colocasia and Canna, can wait for a frost to knock off active growth. Then, dig up the plants and shake off the excess soil, but do not divide at this time. Store in clean sand, dry peat moss or a barky soil mix in a cool (50 degrees) dark dry space such as a basement or root cellar. It is important that they do not remain wet or extremely dry. If you are storing roots you absolutely can’t replace, dusting with a fungicide is recommended.
5. Plants that are hardy in zones 7-9 can winter over in a cool cellar or room that stays above freezing, such as an enclosed porch (about 40 - 45 degrees). The shorter days are sending them into a semi-dormant state, anyway. Phormium do well on a cool porch. Do not cut them back unless you have to. Potted Abutilon, Cuphea, Fuchsia, Phygelius, and tender Salvias can be cut back. Keep soil on the dry side and do not fertilize. Let the plants sleep until March when the days start getting longer. Then repot and water as needed and fertilize once growth is active.
6. Tropical foliage plants like humidity, and will be happiest in a bathroom or laundry room with good light. If you don’t have a humid situation, you may want to try this. We have had luck cutting all top growth on Alpinias and Bananas and storing the potted roots in the same way we store the fleshy tubers. It doesn’t take long once the warm weather arrives for them to put on decent growth.
You may have more luck with some varieties, depending on your home’s conditions. Actively growing plants will need to be checked more frequently for watering and may need fertilizing. Most plants will want to be kept on the dry side if you’re letting them go dormant. Watch for signs of new growth in late February and early March. Then increase watering, repot in fresh soil when it looks like your plant really wants to kick in, and begin a fertilizing program until you can move these plants outdoors.
