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Over Wintering Non-hardy and Tropical Plants
There’s
nothing like a cold north wind and fast moving front in late October to
signal me that I’m out of time to get those tender plants and tropicals
off the deck or out of the ground. So, guess what I was motivated to do
last night?
Due to the popularity of tropicals and the striking contribution they
make to any vista, chances are you too have one or more in your garden,
or on your deck or balcony. The good news is you’ll have them for years
to come with some good timing and a little care on your part.
The trick is to make sure you protect these cold sensitive plants
before they succumb to a killing frost or freezing temperatures. All
tropicals can take the heat but most are highly sensitive to cold
weather. For the most tender plants, temperatures in the 40’s can do
them in. Others can make it through a frost or two but take the sign of
this colder weather as their signal for dormancy. In either case, don’t
expect them to look very good once Jack Frost has paid a visit.
Some of the most common tropicals include banana, caladium, elephant
ear (Colocasia spp.), angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia spp.), hibiscus and
one of the most popular structural plants today, New Zeland Flax
(Phormium tenax).
Tropicals can be brought into a bright sunny room and grown as
houseplants until next spring arrives. However, there are a couple of
challenges with this scenario. First, some of these plants have such
high light and humidity requirements, unless you have a virtual
greenhouse, don’t expect the same lush growth and flowering. Secondly,
not many of us have such a room, especially with ample space for the
larger specimens.
A more practical solution for many is to store them in a near dormant
state in another part of your house or outbuilding. A cool dark place,
one that stays above freezing at night and hovers ideally between 40
and 50 degrees during the daytime is ideal. Common choices include
unheated basements and crawl spaces, root cellars, garages and potting
sheds.
For this storage option, the objective is to keep the part that grows
below ground from completely drying out or freezing while allowing the
above ground growth to go dormant until next spring. Here are some of
the particulars.
Plants that were growing in containers outdoors can be kept in their
containers when moved inside to hibernate. Tropicals that have been
growing in the ground can be dug up and potted or otherwise stored in a
frost free area.
Woody plants like hibiscus and angel’s trumpet should be carefully dug
and repotted in a light potting medium. The soil should stay only
slightly moist but be sure to check it periodically. Don’t be alarmed
if most of the leaves fall off. The goal is to keep these plants alive
but not necessarily stimulate new growth.
They can be left unpruned or you can cut back a bit to accommodate
space requirements. Because they grow rapidly from new wood in the
spring, heavier pruning and any fertilizing should be delayed until
that time.
As you remove non-woody tropicals such as cannas, caladium and elephant
ears, wait until after cold weather or frost has nipped the foliage and
started the process of winter dormancy. There is no need to preserve
the old foliage so cut it back to within a few inches.
These plants are easy to dig up and over winter. The source of next
year’s growth comes from their bulbs, corms or tubers. For best
results, allow enough time to rinse them clean and air dry before
storing in a cool dark place as described earlier. Then place them in a
container that is well ventilated, such as a crate or basket. Lay the
bulbs in peat moss, sawdust or a similar substitute and space them so
they are not touching each other. The material should be light enough
to allow air circulation and retain just enough moisture to prevent the
bulbs from completely drying out.
A month or two before next spring approaches, you can repot the bulbs
for an early start to your spring garden, or wait until after the last
frost and plant them directly in the ground again. Either way, over
wintering tropicals is an easy, effective and economical way to keep
your plants coming back better than ever year after year.
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