There is no bright side to winter. Except maybe for having the tropicals up close and personal. Of course, their spider mites and aphids are up close and personal too!

Where is NC are you? I'm all the way up in central Maryland, and I don't bring that babies in until there's a frost warning, typically in October. Even the hibiscus and bananas.

I have to agree with watergal Meghane - it's sortof early for bringing in. I usually do that Columbus Day weekend (if anything because I have Monday off to recover... LOL).

Although I do know that with all these hurricanes, where we often get the windy rainy remnants up here, I usually find myself lugging the tender-leafed things in or back against a wall so they don't defoliate. I've had my tropical hibiscus almostly completely stripped of leaves after regular nor'easters and with Jeanne supposedly eventually coming up here, I've got to make a decision quick, fast, and in a hurry! UGH!

Seems a tad early to be bringing in the plants. Still haven't done it here, and I'm in Nova Scotia. The brugs are blooming up a storm, and I don't want to disturb them! That said, I hate fall too! And don't even mention winter!

Its not fall that I hate, but winter!

awwwww I'm sorry... indoor gardening can be fun too. Many tropical fruits like citrus begin to ripen in the winter months. Get some lemons and limes, calamondin, kumquat, force a few bulbs and enjoy it. I lived up in the Adirondacks a few years. I turned a large bathroom into a garden once. I put up a grow light, a little fountain, lots of herbs, limes, lemons and some tomatoes. Taking a bath was such an event!

Greenhouses have really come down in cost and to be honest you can build them yourself if you're handy. Wipe away those winter blues and just keep on growing!

Tamara

I saw an article once about putting a cold frame over composting manure which created enough heat that they were able to grow plants over the winter on the mainland inside of it. That might help keep the costs of heating a greenhouse down.

I'm not knocking indoor gardening. I like it. It's just nice having the tropicals outdoors, where nature can assist with pest control and watering, and where room for plants is relatively unlimited.

I've got a spare bedroom that is gradually being turned over to plants under grow lights for the winter. Heating a greenhouse warm enough to keep the tropicals growing and blooming would be too expensive for me here.

I have a Miscanthus in full plumage whose foliage has burst out into shades of yellow and red, making a great backdrop for Colocasia 'Black Magic'.

I love fall.

I just brought my plants in last night. My Christmas cactus was looking really bad,but seems to have revovered(oddly enough,my Easter cactus was fine). I brought in my potted cannas,plumerias,areca palm,orchids,ferns,many kalanchoes,hibiscus,tuberoses,mango seedlings,peace lily,anthuriums,and a mixed basket full of pothos,dracanea,a palm,and a fern. I know it truly is fall not when the leaves turn colors,or it gets chilly,or the first few pumkins show up,but when my space next to the garage and my porch is empty(well maybe it is fall when I have my first caramel apple or slice of pumkin pie). It is nice having my sunroom full of plants,though.
Brian

Fall??? Its still 80d outside! I love SoCal!

Serious zone envy here! If someone ever leaves me a few million I'll be joining Gary in So Cal. In the meantime I'm in zone 6, and just barely...(we used to be 5 until they redid the zone map). I just started bringing in my plants a few days ago. Maybe they can take a little more cold than one would think. I would have brought them in sooner but I'm lazy.

Before you know it, it will be spring again!

Hey, if anyone leaves me a few million, I'm going to move to Hawaii! Think big!

Jupiter Island, Florida for me.

Fall is the best season for all the subtropicals here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the fog and chill hold sway all July and August, and we finally get some real summer temps in late September and early October. This makes for gorgeous flowering of alot of high elevation subtropicals which will last here, even with very cool night temps(down into the low 40's), until the winds and winter rains bash things enough that they need to be cut back.

The Heliconias are putting on a great show right now, as are many of the various gingers such as Hedychium greenei, H.flavescens, and Alpinia zerumbet. The Tree Dahlias and Tree Daisies are just setting buds, none open yet, and usually not in flower til just around Thanksgiving. The Flowering Maples/Abutilons are in their prime right now, and Brugmansia is also very heavy in bloom. Another very fragrant high elevation shrub from the Himalayas, Luculia pinceana, is 10 foot tall and covered in pale pink clusters of very spicily fragrant bloom. This is an only in coastal California plant; as it won't take extreme summer heat or winter cold, but loves it here. The various shrubby herbaceous mint family members from Africa, such as Plectranthus ecklonii(vivid electric blue flowers or pink or white), P. zulensis with pale lavender flowers(all year long here), and P. barbatus and P. neochilus are also spectacular fall blooming accents into winter for us.

The last of the Crinums are also still doing their thing, and the Nerine bowdenii are just getting going with their fabulous shocking pink blooms, similar in color to Schizostylis, also in full bloom now. Also great for late fall color are all the various bromeliads in full leaf color or bloom such as Aechmes recurvata benrathii, A. kertesziae, A. blumenavii, A. 'Pioneer'. A. caudata, A. gamosepala. Billbergia nutans/wildii/'Bill', Vriesea bituminosa/guttata, and many Neoregelias. I love this season for all the late blooming things, but always have to be prepared to bring things out of too much rain if it gets really sopping wet and cold in late December/January, the usual danger period when I lose things to rot or cold. No doubt our winter temps are laughable to people back east, with typical days in the mid 50'sF and nights down to high 30'sF for about 6 weeks. But I must admit, these temps and lack of sun due to low sun angles and winter rains do make me long for mid February when it starts to really seem like spring again.

In the meantime, we also get some real bursts of fall color and ornamentals such as Chinese Pistache, Gingko trees, Liquidamabar, Cotinus, and Crape Myrtles. We can also get the first blooms on the Magnolia soulangeana hybrids as early as November, and Daphne odora and Osmanthus fragrans for winter fragrance in the garden.

Sorry, I have to pipe in on this (a little late). I usually only lurk on this forum. I love looking at the photos of all the tropicalesque gardens. Am working on a 2' x 2' area of tropicalesque.
But really, this is too much. To live in North Carolina and say I hate fall, is to really have blinders on to one of Mother Nature's most spectacular gifts to us, perhaps to miss the whole point of it all...
How can you love plants and hate fall in NC? I'm baffled!

I like the fall and winter since, once the banana, aroids, and gingers get knocked back by the frost, the bamboo, palm and camellia backbone of my garden are brought out into greater definition. The garden still looks very tropical even without the herbacious megaflora and the continuous camellia flowers produced through the winter keeps things looking pretty. The near shutdown of plant growth during the off season also lets me get caught up with pruning and weeding in the garden and the cooler temps make it more comfortable to do the more labor intensive garden chores.