Dormancy Indoors and Out

This brugmansia looks like it's doing OK in the garage. It's getting the "dry, dark, and chilly" dormant treatment. This method is recommended on a number of sites. Apparently, Brugmansias originate in low elevations of the tropics - whether they experienced conditions when they were in chilly dark dry situations for a few months, I don't know.


Most of the garden is overwintering in the usual method of leaving things alone for the winter, maybe with some mulch. This is probably OK for everything with a cold-winter provenance. The figs are a bit borderline in this respect, but most should survive here.

Most of the geraniums, like the brugmansia, are getting the chilly / dark / dry treatment. Some gardeners recommend taking geraniums out of the soil. Here too. These are brought into the garage pot and all.
Some plants won't take the dry /dark / chilly and can't survive outside either. This citrus tree (I'm not sure if lemon, orange, or grapefruit) was grown from seeds 7 years ago, and survives mostly on neglect. It gets light and minimal water inside during Winter. The Anigosanthos is still green, and has produced a couple of small flowers in December. A few more seem to be pushing up from the leaves. It's getting minimal water in the same window. This is my first attempt at this plant - no way to guess if it will survive another 3-4 months of this treatment. So far, OK. I think it is not dormant, just slowed down.

Two of the geranium cuttings died (forgot to water for several weeks) but this one managed to pull through.

I tried to learn about dormancy. A number of writers seem to view it as being like a human who needs sleep. I suspect that's not proven. I think that it depends on the plant, where it came from (it's provenance), and how it's being treated now. For example, a plant in a purely tropical environment that is the same year round, might not need dormancy. Plants from the desert, which become hot and too dry sometimes, and cold and dry others, might have more than one type of dormancy. Spring bulbs are probably "doing something" when we think they are dormant - growing roots, forming embryo flowers and leaves, so that they can burst forth with rapid growth and blooming as soon as weather allows. Similar for shrubs and trees, with some root growth during the fall or winter, and the formation of tiny flowers and leaves within the buds for a big show in Spring. Some plants actually 'prepare' for dormancy by storing carbohydrates - this is hormonally mediated. Other plants may simply be 'marking time' or surviving adverse weather conditions.

I need a nap.

Overwintering geraniums & cuttings. More cacti. Anigozanthos.

The geraniums in the garage look rather sad. Of course, dormancy isn't supposed to be pretty. Here's a topic for discussion: should I call them pelargoniums, like the 'real' gardeners do, or geraniums, like everyone else? For that matter, is the plural pelargonia / gerania?

The epiphyllum is back inside, just in time. It's in the same spot as last year.

Also visible, the Anigozanthos flavidus (Kangaroo paw hybrid). I did some web research on culture for these plants. Apparently not very well known in this climate, especially overwintering.


For future reference:
-Googling on images, this plant is apparently an A. flavidus hybrid. It might be "Bush Gold" although I generally avoid most things named 'Bush'. Here's another description of Bush Gold.
-They prefer bright light.
-They need excellent drainage.
-They dont like excess phosphorus.
-It seems that they can be overwintered indoors.
-They store water in their rhizomes, so can go without water for extended periods.

So, I'll try to resist watering it unless it's very dry, and if it survives Winter, I'll try to keep it in bright light, use a well drained potting soil when it comes time to repot, and resist using any high-phosphate plant foods (although growing organically, most supplements that I use don't have excess phosphate).


The geranium cuttings have rooted now. They have roots coming out of the holes in the containers. The non-scented varieties are doing better than the scented-leaf ones (in the garage and the window sill) but all they need to do is survive, for a head start next year.

Biked 3 days this week. New bumper sticker states "My other car is a bike".

Sunday: Puttering, homework. Bike tomorrow?

Collected some geranium cuttings - the unusual types. No loss if they don't survive the winter. However, this way I have a back-up in case the larger, dry-stored plants dont make it. The advantage of the dry storage method is that the plants will be larger in the Spring. Also, they don't need much attention in storage.

These include some scented and some variegated leaf varieties. No rooting hormone was used - just cut to size, trim extra leaves, stick them into some general purpose potting soil. Last year most of the cuttings took using this method.

Some petite negri (potted tree). First crop for this potted tree. One shows the tear of the penitent.

Also collected some ginkgo seeds and cleaned them up. I'll use the "squirrel method" this time - pleant them around the yard and forget about them. Some might surprize me with little trees next summer.

Better go inflate the tires for tomorrow's ride.

Overwintered Geraniums - Comments on the value of doing (almost) nothing.

Over the past few winters, these geraniums were brought into the garage in the early Winter, left until Spring, then carried outside again. The garage doesn't freeze. Advance preparation amounted to moving them into a rain-free location outdoors for about one month prior to being brought indoors. By drying out in the cool weather, dormancy was induced, and they did not grow tall and leggy in the dark.

Each year they grow larger, with more leaves and flowers. In the past, I did not like the scent of the geranium leaves, but now I like to rub them between my fingers & inhale the scent. They are earthy and spicy at the same time.

Around the yard, there are quite a few plants that have survived and grown, for up to five Summers now, including some additional geraniums, Fuchsias, and several fig trees (which might have survived outside). A heliotrope that I did not intend to keep survived by the same method, simply because the container was moved into the garage while cleaning the yard. The peppers that I did this with did not survive.

Another plant which survived the past 2 winters, with almost no effort, is a "night blooming cereus" - Epiphyllum oxypetalum grown from a cutting from a coworker, that sits in a window without water for the winter, and brought outside in the summer. This plant has a half-dozen buds on it now, so it will probably bloom in a few weeks.

Since these plants are in containers, overwintering did not even involve digging them up. Keeping them from one year to the next is actually less effort than buying new ones in the Spring - which would involve shopping, driving (OK, a multipurpose trip to a discount store would not involve additional driving, but the point is still valid), spending money, and usually buying small plants that take a couple of months to reach full size. Discarding them involves putting them into a waste container to be hauled away. It is less effort to keep them for the following year.

In addition, these geraniums provided cuttings that yielded additional plants with virtually no effort - a little pruning, remove the lower leaves from the trimmings, and put into the soil in a sheltered spot; most took root and grew without any separate watering, potting, or other interventions.

So, by doing almost nothing - just some puttering - these plants survive the winter and become bigger each year.