I'm not ready for frost. I'll miss my flowers and the butterflies. I collected some zinnia seeds today and a few other seeds.

I brought in a big bowl of ripe cherry tomatoes a couple days ago but nobody's been eating them so I'm sure not going to mess with green tomatoes. The bulbs sound like a good idea. I need to plant more daffodils. Those are so carefree.

I dug up my four tropical milkweed plants and potted them all into one big container and put it in a south basement window. Hope they survive.
I dug up my lantana too. I had three yellow ones that I put into a single pot and another red and orange one that's sharing a pot with bat faced cuphea now. I think that's all I will try to keep in my basement. I'll be kicking myself when leaves start dropping.
I took some cuttings from my lime colored sweet potato vine and dug up three potatoes that it made.
I also dug up my Jerusalem Artichokes today. I planted one little tuber in a half whiskey barrel earlier this spring and it made a whole bunch of tubers all the way to the edges of the barrel and at least six inches deep. I'm going to see if I can pass them off as water chestnuts next time I made stir fry. : )

Christie, I really like the smaller daffodils - tete a tete is one I like. They are cute and after they finish blooming, it is easier to put up with the foliage. I got mine at Wal-Mart a few years ago.

It sounds like your Jerusalem Artichokes did very well. Are they like the wild ones I have or the more domesticated ones. It would be wonderful if you like the taste. If your kids don't eat them, they still make nice flowers for the wilder areas of your yard. If you kids were smaller you might go with a story about them being Indian food.

My hall is full. I didn't clean them up just drug them in on big cardboard from Sam's. Who knows what wildlife I may find tomorrow on the floor. Last year I had plants in clear plastic tubs on my basement window sills. I may do that again. I am buying time until I can figure out what to do.

I'm with you Helen...wondering what 'wildlife' I brought in with the plants.

I grew 70+ hot peppers for my son this year. There were lots of unripe ones on the plants so I cut the branches and hung them upside down indoors today. I hope he'll get more peppers to enjoy with this method.

I also dug up about 30 of the cut back pepper plants and potted them up to over winter indoors. I've never done this so we'll see how well they do.

All the tomatoes are harvested and the diningroom table is covered...haha Our tomatoes were late this year so we're happy to have them.

Brought in the last of the basil for drying. The butternut squash is in. Eggplants harvested, etc
Pots of begonias are all tucked inside.

Covered the huge pot of rosemary. Its too heavy to be taking in and out so I hope the sheet over it will work for a couple nights of frost. This is about its 7th year. I really enjoy the smell during the winter.

The house looks like an odd mix of nursery/florist..haha
I barely had space to make diner. Now to find spaces for everything to live this winter.
Something conforting about bringing in the harvest before a frost though.

Christie, have you had good results with the sweet potato vine? I've tried to do cuttings a couple of years without success. Maybe I'm not doing something right.

Nancy - I just stuck my sweet potato vines in water to root and will pot them up later to put in a sunny window. I've done that twice. The first time it worked ok and the second time it didn't although I probably left them in water for too long before I potted them.
When I tried to keep the "potatoes" all winter one year, they rotted. They don't keep as well as regular sweet potatoes. I think I'll try storing them for awhile and then bury them half way in peat to root.
My goodness that's a lot of hot peppers! One would last me a long time. lol

I don't think it got below freezing last night so I need to walk around my yard again and see if there's anything else to save. My salvia 'Lady in Red' was looking so good (finally) I hate to see that go.

I got all my plants stuffed into my small greenhouse, Monday before it got cold, and I do mean stuffed. The 25 yr old bay tree is about 7' tall now and my big brugmansia tops 8'. I didn't want to cut it back because it finally developed flower buds for the first time this year.

I can stand at the door with the hose and water but I can't get inside the greenhouse!

A couple of plants, a big angel wing begonia and my Christmas cactuses are in the house. The ones that won't fit in the greenhouse are on the heated back porch. Sure glad I cut back on potted plants this year! Most of the ones I have, have gotten so big they take up a lot of space.

I also made a cold frame of sorts with old windows that I salvaged from my son in law before he tossed them in the dumpster. I plan on starting some hosta seeds this year and I need a squirrel-proof place to put them. I also want to start some small trees and take cuttings of a couple of roses, and there sure isn't any place in my greenhouse to work! I do have a heat cable if I need it for bottom heat.

Anybody want angel wing begonia cuttings?

Sandy

I was a little worried that I am the only nut but you guys did the same thing as I. Nancy sounds like you were prepared but also that your house is full of plants and tomatoes. I kept a sweet potato vine dry in a plastic shoe box with success once. The ones I kept with moisture rotted; it could have been luck. I haven't had very good luck with caladiums. Does anyone have a trick. My sister in CA keeps them; I will have to look for her comments on them in my old e mails from her.

It is a beautiful day out there at noon too cool in the morning to suit me though.

It is interesting that my tomatoes are toast but until I saw them I thought I missed the frost. Lady in Red salvia suffered but not my other salvias. Petunias look fine and I hope tonight doesn't get them because they are scattered here and there and are pretty in a wild sort of way. They took care of themselves and survived. I think four o clock is done; the leaves look dark.

Well, we got a good freeze last night. I hate to see the plants die but I'm hoping my allergies will appreciate it.

Christie, I'll have to try rooting them in water (another year).

I dont eat peppers at all but my son cant get enough of them. He makes such hot stuff that I've actually had asthma attacks when he cooks them. This year I told him he had to cook them elsewhere..haha I'm still very pleased that he has an interest in gardening. It was just a few short years ago that he thought I was torturing him when I'd ask him to help me with gardening. It was so cute to see his 18 mo old lil boy wanting to get in the pepper garden and help his daddy harvest :)

Sandy, you're lucky to have a greenhouse. What a wonderful idea to make a cold frame from old windows. Did you make walls and roof or just lay them flat over a raised bed?

Helen, am I understanding you correctly...you just took cuttings of the sp vine and put it dry into a shoebox over the winter? In the spring did you then plant it dirrectly or root it in water? Wow, if that works...what a wonderful savings of space and all the fussing you do to keep plants alive all winter.
I've dug caladiums in the past. I put them with some peat and in a loose plastic bag in a cool place. A couple dried out but the majority did well the next year.

I didnt harvest as many flower seeds as I had planned to. The marigolds still look pretty in the tomato bed. I dont know how much they kept the bugs away this year but I love how they brighten up that part of the year.

Did the rest of you get a hard freeze?

I got a hard freeze. All the salvias are frozen. Petunias are still OK. My garden smells like frozen plants.

Nancy I dug up the potato and stored it in my basement dry in a plastic box. If you dig up your sweet potato vine it has sweet potatoes under it. The vine cuttings would need water.

It must've stayed a little warmer here. My zinnias, salvia, and tithonia still look good. They won't escape it tonight though. It's supposed to get down to 28 and I'm fighting the temptation to go out and cover stuff. I would if it were lower plants. I think my zinnias and tithonia would just break off if I tried to cover them.

I would LOVE to have your greenhouse Sandy. I made a big mistake and checked out a book at the library on conservatory type greenhouses and sunrooms. I love the photo on the cover of this book with the glass ceiling and vines. I need this attached to my house. Ok "need" might not be the right word but it's on my "if-I-ever-win-the-lottery" list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Conservatory Style: Garden Rooms, Glasshouses, and Sunrooms

Hi,everyone -- Looks like our season is finally over after last night. I still have some small potted ferns to put in the ground and they are covered with a sheet. BTW, I had a big, beautiful Boston fern last fall and cut it completely back and put in a cool place. Watered occasionally and last spring I hung it out and it recovered, but not quite as lovely as it had been. Covering the tomatoes with light insect cover during the hottest part of summer saved them, (see photo) and once removed I started getting lots of cherry toms and a few heirlooms. Some plants didn't ever have one tomato on them, even though they bloomed. And there were very few stink bugs.
The Mexican petunia and cat's whiskers cuttings I took last fall and wintered over were planted out this spring in containers and they did well. I took more cuttings the other day for 2012. Jenks Greenhouse didn't grow either one to buy last season, so I was glad for the cuttings.
I overwinter caladium bulbs in a plastic mesh basket under the bench in the cool where there isn't any light. Same with cannas but this year I think I'm leaving them in their pots in a protected spot. Think they will survive??
All in all one hexxq of a year, wasn't it. Hope we never have such a wretched summer again!
Sweet Potato vine doesn't do well overwinter in my greenhouse for some reason, so I take the tuber out and overwinter halfway buried in the bench soil. I know that works because this spring there was no growth on the tuber so I threw it in the compost bin and it sprouted.
Sunny