whats to lose.. of course you should try ...

personally.. i would treat the pot for vermin before bringing it in ... but thats just me ...

ken

I bring my dipladenia (the one with smoot shiny leaves is dipladenia and the one with bigger rougher leaves with noticeable veins is mandevilla) in when it gets really cold (below 40 or so) and treat it like a houseplant. I have had it for at least three years now. if it gets a sunnier place (SE window) it even blooms sporadically indoors. It does grow weak long vines when it doesn't get enough light but they either grow mature overtime or fizzle away at some point. They need much less water in cooler temps when there is little new growth.

Oh, how nice. I don't need them to bloom in the house. I have carried over tropical hibiscus 4 winters and they survive but stop growing and don't bloom, just keeping them as houseplants. They also take a lot less watering. I'd just like to keep them alive to put them outside next spring.

Ken, vermin? You meet for a mouse? I am an organic gardener, so beyond some soapy water with garlic in it, not sure what else I would do for it. I will give it a good spray with the hose and inspect it well and keep it away from the other plants when I bring it in, but, what else can I do?

I have overwintered my dipladenia / mandevilla indoors for several winters successfully. Rather than keeping it in a prime summy window (reserved for my houseplants) I have kept it in my attached garage that is insulated and kept at 50’ F. There is a small west facing window but it doesn’t give much light. I give water only if it seems to completely dry out. Once spring comes I move it indoors again if a window is available but this past year it got left until I was able to put it outdoors in my potting shed until the weather waswarm enough to leave outside permanently. It was slower to bloom this year for that reason; in fact it has just began blooming recently; of course spring comes late here in zone 3 compared to your climate! If you have success with your hibiscus indoors I expect you’ll do well with your mandevilla as well.

Debbie and GetGoing - thanks for the identifying information. I wonder if I kept the tag. I don't remember looking at it, but I take your word for it that it is a dipladenia. Can I assume that nurseries label both as Mandevilla?

I have an unattached unheated garage that I can't maintain at 50F so keeping it in the house is my only option. Basement is too warm as well. It's an open space and the heat from the steam boiler keeps it pretty warm down there. It will be interesting to see if I still have it by spring. [g] Thank you. 🙂

Same here. I don't have a cool garage. My condo basement garage is heat led to 60/65 and we are not supposed to keep random plants tucked at the corners in our parking space. :) So, the options are only out there on the freezing balcony or indoors, which is obviously heated 60-70 F.

Different places have their own whims and fanci s about correct ly labelling plants or not. At some point spent some time figuring out which is Mandeville and which is dipladenia. In our parts we largely see only dipladenia in the nurseries.

I agree with Debbie. If your garage doesn't freeze, it will live and come back.