Thursday, October 2, 2008

Frost Warning!!!


October 15 is generally the date we begin to expect colder temperatures and frost -- I knew it was coming and I planned to move my tender plants inside before we leave for Baltimore next Wednesday. But not yet -- maybe this weekend, I thought.

It was 'right chilly' all day yesterday and I eventually even closed most of the windows in the house. Still, it was a surprise when, as I was working away at my laptop in the late afternoon, John called up the stairs to say that there was a frost warning and maybe we'd better bring those plants in.



So here they are, crammed into the little greenhouse -- calamondin and bay trees, rosemary and scented geranium, brugmansia, coleus, begonias, pineapple sage, amaryllis, bougainvillea, cacti --- all those pots of plants huddled together willy-nilly. The smell is wonderful -- and when the cold days come and the landscape is bleak, the door into the greenhouse will be a door into summer.



In the next few weeks I'll cut back a lot of the plants and root cuttings to have more plants next year. I'll do some repotting as well and try to find homes for some of the excess -- it's hard to toss out a plant because there's not enough room but I'm going to be forced into tough love.

That spathesphyllum (peace lily) in the foreground below used to sit on the counter beside the kitchen sink -- not any more. And where I once had one dragon plant -- now I have three because I hate to throw out the stems I'm forced to prune and so I root them.



All these house plants started out as little small things, many grown from cuttings but now they're making it difficult to move around. I must force myself to be firm -- the plants are taking over. Our house has become a no-kill plant shelter but I need to remind myself that these are just plants -- not puppies and kittens.

But when I look at the wine-red and fuchsia leaves of this coleus with their lovely chartreuse picotee edging, my first thought is to make more.




And, no, there wasn't a frost. Not yet.
Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

No greenhouse here, so all my porch plants are in the process of being dumped. I save cuttings from one favorite garnet red coleus, and that's about it. I've really pared down the houseplants, too - even "Benjamin," a huge ficus I rescued as a dried up little sapling from a grocery store floral dept. years ago, went to the brush pile recently. I guess I'm getting more ruthless as I get older.

No frost on the ground yet, but I did have to scrape ice off my car windows the past two mornings!

Vicki Lane said...

Oh dear, I'm hopeless. My first thought on reading your post was 'I wonder where that brushpile is? Maybe it's not too late to save Benjamin.'

No! I must be strong. I have two huge ficus trees now. Rest in Peace, Benjamin. :-)

I did finally toss out a poinsettia (from last Christmas) that seemed to be in its death throes. Baby steps, baby steps -- tomorrow maybe I'll give a sad looking Angel Wing begonia (one of about ten)its freedom.

Susan M. Bell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susan M. Bell said...

I don't keep many house plants as I don't really have enough room. (When I get my writing room upstairs done, watch out.) I do have a Christmas cactus (actually I think it's more of a Thanksgiving cactus) that I inherited when my mother died in 2000. I just don't have the heart to get rid of that one.

I did the panic thing last night when they called for frost - brought in the cactus and picked the last of the tomatoes. No frost. Oh well. Better safe than sorry.

We have an old storage building in the back yard that we really don't use. (You can see it in some of the photos on my blog.) One day I am hoping to get rid of it and put in a small greenhouse. **Ah dreams.**

Vicki Lane said...

I have a Christmas cactus that blooms at Halloween. Very appropriate as that's my older son's favorite holiday and it was given to me in 1972 -- when he was born. It's gotten too big and heavy to move so it has a permanent spot in the corner of the greenhouse.

Re greenhouse -- my husband built it with concrete block and sliding door glass. It's a shed on the south side of the house and is specifically designed (something to do with the pitch of the roof) to pump heat into the house in winter (on sunny days) but not to get that warm in summer. It's not fancy, but it works and allows me to foster far more plants than is reasonable.

Anonymous said...

Vicki, don't fret about Benjamin - he lived a long and happy life, and was cremated weeks ago. ;>)

On the other hand, tearing myself away from a certain dog at the FOMCA booth at the Heritage Festival today was VERY hard. But he was a pup, and we're all away all day... (sigh)...

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, Phyllis, I feel better about Benjamin now.

And I know better than to ever go near places with puppies and kittens. We are at capacity and beyond in the pet business.