Bringing Plants Inside
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Tropical and potted annuals lining up to get trimmed or moved to the compost pile. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)
Bringing Plants Inside
It is that time of year when I have to go through my tropical and potted plants and make a difficult decision: which ones will spend winter inside and which ones will head to the compost pile.
I confess, this is hard for me. I want to keep all of them, even the scraggly struggling ones, I just know if I had another couple of months I could get them to be full and beautiful again.
And no, the scraggly ones don’t necessarily get tossed. The deciding factor tends to be available space and what lighting the plant needs. If I can’t give it what it requires, I won’t make it struggle for a few months before i have to toss it out, better to do it now.
To get my potted plants ready for the move inside:
Trim each plant of excess growth.
Check for bugs; treat.
Remove top 2 inches of soil; replace with new potting soil.
Separate into lighting requirement piles.
Clean bottom dish.
6. Add castors to bottom of heavy plants.
Shake to remove hitchhikers.
Most of my plants have been with me for a number of years so they have favorite wintering spots already reserved. It’s the newcomers that I struggle with sneaking in, especially if they are small. The larger potted plants can easily take up most of the sunny window space, leaving the shorter plants struggling.
To help the smaller varieties, I use pot stands I pick up during the year. The stands elevate the smaller plants off the ground giving them closer exposure to winter sunlight.
I do - grouse is a good word - as I move furniture and accommodate my green guests. My cats enjoy finding hitchhikers among the branches but I would rather not be greeted by a lizard, or more commonly a frog, sitting on my kitchen counter.
And, wait until that first heavy snowfall when the temperatures are in the single digits and I’m warm and surrounded by flowering greenery. That makes it all worthwhile!
Charlotte
