Other than herbs, what plants are you willing to dig up and overwinter inside? (flowers, grow)

[no kudzu]

Here in N.C. we usually don't have too much winter damage - not withstanding last winter- but there are a few plants I want to try to bring inside. I have some beautiful asparagus ferns and airplane plants I would like to bring inside but I'm worried about my silly cats. I haven't had inside plants since they were bad kittens 12 years ago. I'm thinking I'll try some hanging plants in the bathroom.
What are you going to bring inside?

overwintering tender plants, with kathy tracey - A Way To Garden

[jacqueg]

I grow marginally hardy plants in pots and bring them in when the temp falls. Right now, that would be chocolate cosmos and meyer lemons, as well as lemongrass and wasabi. I live in winter hardiness zone 8, so usually the plants are indoors for only a month or so. When I lived in a colder area, I brought more of them in. If they were dividable, I would bring in just a small start. The "mother" plant I would store in a cold frame lined with straw. Sometimes they'd make it, other times not.

[randomparent]

I overwinter the two geraniums that decorate my home's entrance.

[Threestep2]

Maybe the lime tree. The rest is on its own.

[harlowvart]

I brought my tabasco pepper plant in

[Hemlock140]

Our deep red almost black Martha Washington comes in soon, also my Meyer Lemon and a Bougainvillea bonsai. Some other more sensitive bonsai go into the greenhouse for the winter. I don't dig anything up, they are all in pots.

[NYChistorygal]

I'm going to try the miniature roses that I saved from Walgreens this spring, plus chocolate mint, peppermint and basil. I may try to grow a few short flowers near a sunny window to keep me happy through the dark, cold snowy months ahead.

[mzfroggez]

Zone 7 Upstate SC
Last winter I brought in some Mandeville /not the shiny leaf type but the duller large leaf. They were both in pots however - the one I had transferred to new dirt and a bigger pot looked lame at winter's end and struggled through the summer but the one I never repotted took off once I took it outside this past spring. Go figure on that one.

This year, I will bring both of those Man. back in plus another large leaf I planted in soil.
Since I bought some tighter bright leaf Mandeville this season, I will dig them up and bring them in as well to see if they survive. The pinks I planted of those did ok/not all that exciting; the red shiny leaf Mandeville did awful with 5 out of 6 dying early on. I may dig up the one remaining red and see if it likes the house .

I will likely bring in my one Hibiscus that I stuck in the ground. The rest of my zone 8 (Confederate Jasmine, etc) I will think on. Last year my plants seemed to love the clods of grass and leaves that I tucked around them in late October.

[happehart]

Now I am starting to worry about all the new plants and trees that just went into the ground.. I am hoping they will be OK.. new Lilacs, forsythia, azalea, roses, fig tree, persimmon tree and 2 Japanese maples. I think I am crazy to put all this in the ground now.

[mzfroggez]

Originally Posted by happehart

Now I am starting to worry about all the new plants and trees that just went into the ground.. I am hoping they will be OK.. new Lilacs, forsythia, azalea, roses, fig tree, persimmon tree and 2 Japanese maples. I think I am crazy to put all this in the ground now.

Actually, when I lived in Northern Virginia, this was when we planted . Fall was always touted as the best of time to plant , even though winter was more prolonged and temps colder. My understanding is that the dormant period of winter is kinder to new plants than the scalding summer that follows a spring planting. Just make sure you mulch sufficiently which applies really to spring and fall planting.

I did a lot of planting here in SC this past spring and I agonized over the plants that were struggling in the brutal sunshine. Much of what I put in survived but some of it had a very difficult time.

It's a shame however that so many garden centers bring out so much of their stock in the spring, pushing one to plant at that time. By fall, the stock that weathered over the summer in the garden center is root-bound, stressed and often ragged looking. The new stock that comes in seems to be heavy on pots of mums and not on much else.

So I think you are in good shape for planting now. When I planted some crepe myrtles and abelias in September, I had people warning me that I should wait and I admit that the sun was brutal on them . I didn't think much would make it. Now all of that stuff is looking better .

I would make sure you keep your new stuff watered; don't let the roots dry out. If you have leaves falling, rake up all you can and add that to your mulching - your plants will love you. If you have old leaves around the yard, even better.