For entering the "Why I Garden" contest on Blotanical, I won a copy of the book "Bulbs in the Basement, Geraniums on the Windowsill" (thanks, Stuart!), a book for people such as myself, whose success in overwintering plants is limited to a couple of cacti. How I wish I had this book a couple of months ago, when I embarked on my overwintering adventure. I started with such enthusiasm with a large gift Pelargonium, a couple of pots of Alocasia, a Dahlia tuber and two Ipomoea cuttings.
(The Alocasias have already bit the dust.)"Bulbs in the Basement" provides information specifically on many tender plants. Although Alocasia isn't one of them, the directions in the general information section would have told me to store the tubers rather than try to keep them growing in potting soil. It also lists the various pests and diseases that afflict indoor plants and advises how to deal with them.
At least I received the book in time to save the Ipomoea cuttings from death by overwatering. (I was trying to compensate for my underwatering tendencies, and they were starting to droop.) The book also validated my instinct to put the Pelargonium next to the patio door to keep it cool. With a forecasted low of -9F for later in the week, I'm thinking maybe I should move the Pelargonium until this Arctic blast has moved on.
I hope all of you are doing better than I am. Stay warm, stay sunny, and may you have abundant blooms.
25 comments:
Now that you have the book, next winter will be even better. Do you have a bird feeder? I find that watching the birds helps relieve cabin fever. A little bit, at least!
MrMcD, I, like you, will have to wait until spring for any blooms. I do hope you survive this arctic blast that is to come through. It sounds like you might just get that B.
My house plants are looking pretty poor now too. I have lost one palm. Now how can you kill a palm? I don't know for sure. I might have waited too long to bring it inside. Sigh~~
I tend to not water enough during winter. My ferns were looking pretty puny and I started watering more and sure enough they responded. It is a mystery how to take care of these tropicals.
You are lucky to have won that book. I hope it gets you, and your indoor plants through the winter.
We are expecting that same blast down here too. Chilled just thinking of it. I believe the alocasias will come back in the spring. Just store pot and all in your garage or a cool room, water once it gets warmer and I bet you'll see new growth. And next winter will be better. Do stay warm.
Dear MMD,
I am lucky the cat keeps me from having indoor plants..they would die from neglect!
-9! The weather is indeed dreadful!...we will get blasted and I will drag the giant rosemary inside along with the bay laurel tree...The rosemary are both over 4 foot tall...I don't think there is a blanket warm enough to keep them safe from 12 degree weather!
Keep warm and safe MMD...
Gail
I brought my dahlia tubers in and left them in the back hall. I'm pretty sure they all bit the dust because the look terrible. I probably didn't dry them out enough.
Count me in as someone who rarely tries to overwinter tender plants. I DO have an 'African Sunset' thunbergia in my office this winter, and so far it's surviving nicely because I water it regularly. It's a tad etiolated because it would like more light, but it'll make it through, I think.
I don't bother with dahlias, glads etc for just that reason; I would feel guilty leaving them in the ground and can't be bothered with the work of getting them ready to overwinter. I am a bad, bad person.
We're getting a fairly hard freeze even down here in Houston, due by the next weekend or so..(Jan 15 or 16), just about in time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day...sigh
Hi MMD,
Ah, the conundrum of overwintering has discouraged you, eh? Don't give up, just give them as much sun as you can and remember that the house gets really dry in winter due to the heat. We're actually having great luck this year with our tropical hibiscus (they usually really suffer when they come in), but they have been blooming occasionally and are not looking totally chipper, but not in danger of dying!
We're buried over here as well... I thought of you when I heard about the big snow you got after ours on Friday, and hoped you weren't buried too deeply. We had another 4" today and it's down in the deep freeze for us this week as well. Oh well, it is January in the midwest, my dear! Small consolation, I know, but it's still better than freakish warm spells that wake up the bulbs too soon!
Cheers, and hang in there!
Are you sure the alocasia are dead? It is common for them to have dieback; their tubers could still be viable.
MMD, that sounds like a great book. I just looked at the details at amazon.com. It will be interesting to read during this long, long winter;)
Stay warm, Thursday's highs are supposed to be below zero.
Marnie
I wish I could send you some of today's blue skies and sunshine. It's a beautiful winter's day on my corner of Katy, albeit a windy and chilly one. It would probably feel balmy to you!
What a wonderful surprise!!! That certainly must have been a day-brighter. (You wrote an excellent post, by the way. Worthy of winning a book!) :-)
Kathy - I've been trying to get my hands on an empty large pop (that's soda in non-Midwestern speak) bottle to use as a squirrel baffle, but they keep getting recycled. Next year, definitely, I will have a bird feeder with a baffle. Now you know why we Chicagoans find it so easy to say "wait until next year" when the Cubs go down in flames.
Lisa - I've never tried to grow a Palm, but my mom killed one by forgetting to water it. (She used to have beautiful indoor plants before they started spending most of the winter in Florida.) Does that make you feel better?
Thanks, Tina, I think I'll stuff them in the crawl space. I just hope I remember them in the spring.
Gail - the updated forecast now calls for -12 Friday. No zone cheating this winter. At least I don't have to worry about dragging things inside. I hope you get help moving those big pots.
Amy - I probably let my Dahlia tubers dry out too long too. Either that or they'll freeze in the garage on Friday.
Jodi - it's not that much effort and no cost for me to dig & store the Dahlia, as there's only 1. If it survives, great. If not, no great loss. You're not a bad person, just a more practical one.
Nancy - I don't know how you Texans do it; too hot & dry in summer for the poor plants, then blasts of cold to freeze them. You must be more optimistic than me. I'd be ready to toss in the towel.
IVG - I refuse to turn down my system humidifier even when it gets really cold. I hope the plants appreciate it. Why does it not surprise me that you can get Hibiscus to bloom indoors? Usually I can't decide which month I hate more, July or January. Right now, the decision is pretty easy. Of course that may all change on a 100+F day with jungle-like humidity.
EAL - I think in the tiny little secret optimistic space in my heart I've been hoping that the Alocasias aren't dead. I haven't pitched them yet.
Marnie - before I had kids, on days with below-0 highs, I used to hide in the house. Now I have to drive them to school & pick them up. I'm dreading it.
Cindy - it would feel balmy. My parents make fun of the year-round Florida residents who don't go to church when it's in the 60s because it's "too cold." It's finally sunny here, but that's not a good thing. Sunny with snow on the ground = very cold in January.
Thanks, Shady! The book definitely was a bit of a mood lift, but I think I'm going to have to buy a flowering plant today just because.
Only -8 degrees here at the moment but it was very sunny today. I shoveled part of the driveway last night as the snow was ending and it was beautiful out and not too cold. Looks like Friday is the really cold one!
Just had to send my rosemary to the plant cemetery before it spread its disease to anyone else. I wouldn't mind except it was one of the few things I was trying to over-winter. Clearly not my forte.
Well done MMD and glad you're making use of your prize already :)
First of all, congrats on winning! :-) And what a great prize! I'm sure I could benefit from advice in that book. I've got a few of mine that clearly aren't happy. Maybe you can share some of what you learn along the way!
Hi MMD, just the cover is enough to inspire on that lovely book, well done! I agree with the others that the alocasia is probably not dead, stop watering and put it in a cool dry spot until spring. I think of you everytime they show the weather map, it seems Chicago is on everyone's mind now, Obama or Spring Fling? I have been reading about Lurie gardens and can't wait. You did mention we would see it, right? And that wasn't you on TV with a parka covering you all up saying you just have to deal with all the cold and snow? It sounded like something you would say, and looked like you too! HA
Frances
What a great sounding book. I think I'd move that poor plant away from the window too, we're going to be in the freezer now. Brr. I'm not stepping foot outside tomorrow. It looks like you do about as well with indoor plants as I do. One of the major reasons I don't buy houseplants.
Is it -25 by you too? I swear, this winter is polar opposite compared to the last few (pun intended on "polar"). I have to walk 6 blocks tomorrow morning and the low will kindly be at -10. Wind chills I'm sure will be, what, +84? C'mon.... I'm using the gardening catalogs as insulation.
Some bulb-type stuff used to make it through an IL winter if buried in perlite in a zipbag and kept in the crawl. I don't know if the alocasia would be comforted or outraged by this treatment.
Stay warm, MMD - no exposed skin, now!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
I thought about you with that blast or arctic air that's over the area. that would put one in a slump, I think.
Keep warm,
Robin Wedewer
National Gardening Examiner
I think we all have a case of cabin fever. My adventures in overwintering have not gone well at all either, despite Garden Girl's great advice. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.
Ms. Wis - I know what you mean about the shoveling. When I was out there Monday night, the lights from town reflecting off all that snow made it almost as bright as day. Sorry about your rosemary. So much for herbs on the kitchen counter.
VP - yes, I'm a fitting receipient of this one.
Kylee - ? I've heard rumors that you have over 100 houseplants. Doesn't that make you an expert?
Frances - yes, Chicago is the center of the Universe. And no, that wasn't me. I'm not dealing with the cold, I'm hiding in the house. I'm not going outside until the temperature is in the positive double digits.
Cinj - I'm with you, let's hibernate!
Benjamin Vogt - this winter is actually a lot like last year here, with all the snow. The cold is a throwback to the late 70s, however. I just love wearing 2 pairs of sox and leggings under jeans inside the house.
Annie - I brought the Dahlia tuber & the pot of Tulip bulbs in from the garage for the next couple of days. I'm staying in & cooking and baking today.
Robin - the cold is just the icing on the cake, so to speak. I think it's time to make stew and eat chocolate.
Now who would be spreading rumors like that, MMD?
LOLOLOL
What an inspiration to get one out of the doldrums!! The Primula is beautiful.
My vase never looked so good as your photo of it with your Primula.I was just blown away by it.
I had a catch in my throat when I read your kind words. Thank you.
Congratulations on winning that contest. I remember you telling me about it before.
Everything is in full bloom and lush here in Florida. I can't wait till you get here to enjoy them with me. Love you Lots
Stay warm!!!
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