What Outdoor Plants Can You Bring Inside For The Winter

For the winter, Larson advises taking all tropical plants inside. She also offers:

Hibiscus.
Pelargonium (better known as geraniums).
Begonias.
Mandevilla.
Oleander.
Caladium.

She adds, “I’ve also had success growing succulent gardens in pots and delicate herbs like parsley and basil.

Can plants from the outside be kept inside?

The first step in successfully overwintering plants indoors is selecting the correct kind of plant. Contrary to common assumption, not all plants can live (or, at the very least, not all plants can thrive) under indoor growing conditions, particularly if your home has insufficient light, temperature, or humidity. Since there are probably fewer sunny spots inside your home than outside, you’ll need to decide which plants are worth preserving for the season and whether you can provide them with the care they need within.

While it may be appealing, it is not possible to bring all outside plants home for the winter. Before choosing which plants to bring indoors, go through the following checklist and bring the ones that adhere to the requirements.

only maintain healthy plants. Even in ideal circumstances, a plant that has been struggling all summer is unlikely to thrive indoors. It’s time to accept reality and consign it to the plant cemetery for eternal rest (also known as the compost bin or trash).
You should never bring a sick or pest-infested plant indoors. Even if you take great care to quarantine the problematic plant until it is nursed back to health, there is no guarantee that you won’t transfer the problem to your other plants. Problems spread more quickly among indoor plants than in the outdoor garden. The absence of natural insect predators in the home also creates the perfect environment for infestations to take place. Before bringing any plants indoors, give them a thorough inspection for any signs of issues.
Your favorite plants should come first. Give preference to any varieties that you have already put a lot of time and effort into, such as the ferns you’ve been nurturing for years, anything you’ve trained into a standard, and sentimental favorites when choosing which plants to bring indoors for the season (assuming you have limited space). Of course, if you have the space, costly indulgences are also worthwhile.
Bring the plant inside if it would look fine there. A variety of blooming plants, including geraniums, fuchsias, begonias, and even passion flowers, may be grown successfully in many homes and blossom wonderfully indoors. Even while they might not appear as rich or vivid as they would in the natural environment, it’s still pleasant to have flowers blossoming in the winter. In the spring, the plants will be ready to begin blooming in their natural habitat once more.
Think about giving particular foods, like baby pepper or tomato plants, top priority. They are essentially tropical perennials, and if they get enough sunlight, they’ll keep producing fruit all winter long. You’ll succeed producing small patio types because some vegetable varieties might require a very huge pot. The easiest and highest yielding vegetables to grow are cherry tomatoes and small-fruited peppers like chilies. Remember that there are no insects or pleasant breezes inside, so you will need to manually pollinate your plants.

How can you survive the cold with outdoor potted plants?

You might need to give your pots additional protection depending on where you reside. The following are a few choices for overwintering containers:

Put many pots next to the house or wall on the ground. Put the cold-hardiest plants outside the grouping, and the weaker ones in the middle. Place straw bales around the outside. Putting them together improves the insulation’s mass and volume, shielding them from chilly breezes that could cause freezing and desiccation.
Mulch pots with straw, mulch, or chopped leaves for further insulation. Snow is a wonderful insulator as well. Grouping pots in a premade pond liner and filling it with mulch is an intriguing concept for insulating containers.
The only insulation for roots is the wall of the pot itself because the majority of roots usually tend to be on the exterior of the rootball. To insulate roots, place foam along the walls of square pots that is at least an inch thick before planting. Fill the internal walls of rounded pots with foam peanuts.
Fill the container up with soil and bury the pots there.
Plant the rootball in the ground after removing it from the container. Clean the container, then keep it inside. Next year, remove the root ball and repot it in the same or a bigger container.
Burlap, bubble wrap, old blankets, or geotextile blankets can all be used to wrap pots. Since the roots require protection, the entire plant doesn’t need to be covered. The root zone will retain heat thanks to the support of these protective covers.
Cover plants at night with cloth, burlap, or plastic if low temperatures are anticipated. If you use plastic, make sure to take it off during the day because the heat can hasten the growth of the buds. Additionally, when covering, take care not to harm the plants’ tops. Plant damage from the cold and pests is facilitated by injury.
To offer further security, place your pot inside of a larger pot. The bigger pot should have extra insulation or sturdy walls for this to work optimally.

Hard freezes may be unusual to nonexistent in USDA Zones 7 through 11, therefore it may not be essential to add insulation or move pots indoors for the winter. There are several tasks, nevertheless, that you should still be mindful of. Plant development will stall in the winter because of the lower temperatures, and watering may become less regular. However, salt can accumulate in the soil and increase toxicity levels. Leach the salts out with water. As required, fertilize plants as well.

Can annual plants be brought indoors during the winter?

Although annuals can be cultivated indoors year-round, they are typically brought inside to avoid a deadly frost. You can save money by overwintering annuals inside by avoiding the need to purchase fresh plants or seeds every spring.

Some annuals easily reproduce, thus there is little advantage to overwintering them. Others will continue to grow as long as they aren’t exposed to freezing temperatures by sending up new shoots. Even while some advice varies depending on the species, following a few general rules will enable you to take care of a variety of annuals indoors at any time of the year.

What outdoor plants will survive winter?

plants that can withstand cold

Coneflower (Echinacea)
Flower of the Valley
Spruce blue.
Boxwood in wintergreen.
Catmint.
Coconut Bells (Heuchera)
Pansies.
Hostas.

I have plants outside; when may I bring them inside?

It’s time to bring many of your outdoor plants inside when frost is forecast. Only indoors will many delicate annuals, bulbs, herbs, and tropical plants make it through the winter. Here are some tips on which plants to bring indoors this fall and how to prepare potted plants for the winter.

When to Bring Plants Inside

True annuals and plants that we cultivate as annuals (which are regarded as sensitive perennials in southern regions) are unable to withstand the chilly winter months. But you don’t have to say goodbye to these plants forever! Even delicate plants that require a winter dormant period can be brought inside as “annuals” in many cases. Ideally, these should be brought inside before the temperature drops below 45 degrees at night (7C). Start bringing the plants inside for the winter when October approaches and nighttime lows dip approximately 50F (10C).

At temperatures below 40F (4C), and for some tropical plants even below 50, harm is likely to occur. To acclimatize them, you must take action well before any actual frost or ice.

Where to Put Plants

I still struggle to find space for everything, despite the fact that the greenhouse we have attached to the house receives plenty of sunlight and never gets colder than 45F. For my benefit, a lot of these plants would experience a dry season in their natural habitat and don’t mind resting under a bench. Particularly when the pots are large, the greenhouse quickly fills up.

Consider making a shelf or area where you may put plants that require high humidity together if you don’t have a greenhouse but have a lot of them. While some people mist their indoor plants, this only has a temporary beneficial effect. Putting a pebble tray under your plants is a better long-term solution. After adding a layer of gravel and lining the trays with waterproof material, add the pots on top. Do not dry out the gravel. You might wish to attach some ceiling hooks if you have hanging plants. Cleaning your windows both inside and outside will help guarantee that plants receive enough light throughout winter.

Which Plants To Bring Inside

You might need to decide what should be brought inside and what should be kept outside. Which flora stand out to you? Which ones cost the most to replace? Additionally, only keep healthy plants; throw away those that have disease or pest issues. Additionally, the lighting in your home is crucial. Even a west or south facing glassed area in winter only has the summer shaded area’s winter light intensity.

Plants that can be carried indoors can be divided into two categories:

plants that need a time of winter hibernation.
plants that can continue to thrive while dormant during the winter.

Some delicate bulbs need to spend some time “dormant” in a chilly environment where the temperature is still far above freezing. Numerous of these pricey bulbs are worth overwintering. Tender bulbs include, for instance:

Caladiums
A calla lily
Cannas
Dahlias
Elephant ears
Gladiolus
tubes of roses

Simply stop watering fragile bulbs in pots, remove the withering leaves, and tuck them away in a dark, cool place. Periodically check the soil moisture.

Dig up and trim back the leaves of fragile underground bulbs. By hand, remove as much dirt as you can from the bulb. For 7 to 14 days, leave them in a warm, dry location to dry. This gets rid of extra moisture. Separate them with shredded newspaper or dry peat moss and place them loosely in a cardboard box or open container. Get cozy somewhere chilly and gloomy. To get a head start on the season, pot them up in the spring about a month before you intend to set them outside.

When the season is over, what should you do with your potted plants?

Ten things to do:

1.) Clean but don’t “sanitize.
2. Remove the dead materials.
3. Cut off the wilted perennial flowers.
4.) “Put compost on top of the gardens.
5. One final grass cutting.
6.) Apply lawn fertilizer.
7.) Guard the delicate material.
8. Examine the mulch.

Can perennials be kept in containers during the winter?

If you have spent the effort planning, planting, and caring for your perennial container garden during the entire growing season, you probably want to overwinter it. However, other gardeners prefer to treat perennials like annuals and chuck them out once the growing season is finished. Others decide to move their perennials in containers into the garden for the winter before starting again with new plants in the spring. Your decision is yours. Continue reading if you want to try overwintering.

Why do containerized perennials require special treatment to overwinter successfully?

Perennial plants dislike temperature changes that are stronger above ground than below it.
The risk of harm is higher when perennials are grown in pots because they are less cold-hardy.
Remember that your chances of successfully overwintering increase with pot size. This is so that the roots can be protected from freezing and desiccating by a larger volume of soil in a larger pot.
Perennials typically have an easier time surviving the winter in warmer climates or regions with a consistent, heavy layer of snow cover. It takes more effort to get them to survive the winter in the north and in locations with erratic snow cover.

No of your climate, give containerized perennials a good watering just before the ground freezes so they have a supply on hand for the warm winter months. If overwintering under cover, you can also occasionally add a few handfuls of snow to the top of the container; if the temperature rises sufficiently for it to melt, this will provide the plants extra water.

Despite this, many perennials grown in containers do not make it through the winter because they drown from receiving too much water. The roots sit in water until the soil thaws completely and the water can drain out of the pot via the drainage hole at the bottom when the pot accumulates water at the top but the soil is still frozen at the bottom. Water, especially ice cold water in the winter, is not good for roots to sit in. To prevent this from happening, overwinter your perennials in containers on their sides so that water cannot collect at the top of the pot or overwinter them under cover where they won’t receive much water over the winter or the first few weeks of spring before the soil thaws.

Overwintering Techniques

On the best way to overwinter perennials in containers, there are several different schools of thought. Some of the techniques listed here might be effective in your climate, while others might not. The best approach to figure out what will work for you is to experiment.

The majority opinion seems to be that burying the entire pot in the ground is the best approach to overwinter perennials grown in containers. The roots are safeguarded in this manner, just as they would be if the plants were genuinely buried in a garden. Just be careful not to keep the pot in the ground for an excessive amount of time in the spring, as this may cause the roots to start growing out of the drainage holes and securing the pot to the earth.
After the first severe frost, you can overwinter them by putting the pots in a cold frame or an unheated garage for the winter. Don’t overwinter perennials in a greenhouse or another warm location where plants won’t fall dormant because all perennials need a time of dormancy or a cold treatment to blossom.
If you are overwintering your containers outdoors, arrange them together as closely as you can in a protected spot on the ground. In this manner, the soil’s heat and moisture can be absorbed by the pots. A excellent location is often on the east side of the home. Never store the containers over the winter on a deck, paved area, or any other surface that is elevated from the ground. Perennials in containers that are exposed on higher levels throughout the winter have a poor probability of successfully overwintering.
The pots will require some form of insulating material to be placed on top of them. Try piling evergreen boughs or leaves on top of the pots, then cover everything with a heavy blanket of snow. Use an insulating blanket designed specifically for this if snowfall is unreliable where you live. For further security, you may also consider wrapping the pots themselves in an insulating material.