What Do You Overwinter ?

[Nyboy]

When do you dig up cannas? Right before frost or after die back from frost ?

 

[digitS']

Every year I want to try over wintering geraniums but never do.

I should grow geraniums more often ... and, save them thru the winter.

My mother said that a salmon-red geranium was "her flower." I don't really know why. She has been gone quite awhile now and it has been an awfully long time since I saw her with "her flower."

I think it makes some sense for this old guy to remember his departed mother by growing her flower and bring it out again every spring.

The glad bulbs were dug days ago but they were a little muddy. The old corms were tossed before they came home. They can just go into the shavings and go downstairs but the glads haven't taken that trip yet. I'd better do it soon!

Steve

 

[bobm]

Years ago, my Sainted Mother planted a bunch of Geraniums in her flowerbed... soon she was overrun with snails and slugs from every corner of the world. A few years later she un - cerimoniously uprooted all of them and wonder of wonders, nary a snail or slug to be found. Needless to say , one can't find a single geranium in my yard.

 

[catjac1975]

Cut back your Bougainvillea drastically. Fertilize it with a bloom producing product and wait for the show to begin. Sometimes I use orchid fertilizer on it.

 

[lesa]

Oh, Cat- you mean it will flower in the winter??? Fertilizer here I come!

 

[catjac1975]

My best booms are in winter when everything else is pretty dull. Don"t forget the heavy pruning. Prune near a leaf node and in should send out several shoots at each node. I put mine in the back of the green house where the light is less direct. Here's a photo of last winter. It is more beautiful than it even photographs. I actually was getting tired of the spindly blooms in the past and was considering not overwintering it again. I am not sure I have ever even repotted it.

 

[Jared77]

Nicely done Cat

 

[Smart Red]

Well, I was too (lazy?) busy to get some annuals planted properly so they sat beside the driveway screaming for water and a forever -- although short lived -- home. Today they are warming themselves in the sun room. We shall see how well these annuals fare inside over the winter. There are snap dragons, moss roses, and marigolds now dipping their toes into water and their heads up toward the cloudy sky. (still not exactly potted yet).

 

[Smart Red]

Cat, I love your bougainvillea and the poinsettia? behind it. I have over wintered them but never thought to cut them back until spring. Thanks for the tip.

Love learning new things here!

 

[jackb]

I don't overwinter, but grow during the winter. Not being a big fan of salads during the cold weather I grow a lot of what I call pot greens: chard and our favorite, beet greens. In just a few weeks this planting will yield enough chard for servings for two meals for Theresa and myself. They really perk up a meal on a cold day.
jackb