I was not in my greenhouse this spring sowing seeds or preparing other plant related things, because my husband and I retired. I tried to convince myself I could go without sowing seeds, growing things, nurturing seedlings, and propagating succulents, or whatever, I would do in my greenhouse in the spring. I decided I want to travel, so really, I won’t be here to water, coddle, care for my plant babies during the summer months. Plus, there is a cost associated with growing plants from seed such as seedling mix to nursery pots, etc. And I thought I should avoid that expense now that we are retired.
However, as the middle of summer hit, I thought this would be a good time to clean the greenhouse. What in 100-degree weather? During CT’s heat wave, you ask! Well, in the early mornings, it is a great time to hose all the dust off everything I left in the greenhouse, and it all dries very well as the heat rises to the point I can’t be in there.
This whole thing “cleaning the dust off” in the greenhouse got me daydreaming about my days in the greenhouse from years prior. Even when I close the slider door, there is a bang slam type of noise as the side of the door hits the frame, and that simple noise is something I heard repeatedly when I was in my greenhouse full time in the spring seasons. It gave me flashbacks. So did hearing the birds outside the greenhouse, seeing the trees sway outside the greenhouse, and just the simple things you experience in there when working in the quiet or sometimes with a speaker playing favorite tunes. Those moments when you are using your hands, hands in the soil, just being with the whole environment. My greenhouse was that place for me for lots of time in the spring, fall, and even winter. Usually mid-summer though, it would be just way too hot be working or playing in there.
But, I did think, well, it will be hot, I can grab the water hose, blast all, reorganize lots of stuff I had piled up here and there, and even hose down windows and doors. I started to take everything out of my antique school style lockers from spray bottles to tools, to cups, to plant labels, to bug sticky yellow traps, to scissors, magnifying glass, and anything else and hosed all the lockers down to remove dust and crime. It felt good, but it also brought lots of reminders of the projects I did in the greenhouse. For example, once, I tried stamping old spoons for a while and have a whole set of the stamp tools in the school lockers along with all my other plant related tools. It just brought back memories and made me realize the greenhouse was my true Zen woman cave. I spent lots of hours in there when sowing tomato plant seeds and it kept me busy. Then in the winters, I’d care for overwintered plants.
Anyhow, I realized I don’t think I can do without using my greenhouse. It is part of my soul. I thought about what ifs. What if I turned it into a pottery studio? But nah, I don’t want to invest in all that. What if we turned it into a place to sit and chill. Well, there is no chill in a greenhouse in the summer, way too hot. What if we covered the clear roof and made it another hang out room? Well, we don’t really need a hang out room in the summer in that heat. What if I just stored a bunch of stuff in there but then it just hit me, I truly miss it. I miss being in there working with plants. It was my thing, and it gave me a special vibe. So, I just may rethink that whole don’t use the greenhouse anymore ridiculous idea.
In the meantime, I’ll keep cleaning and sorting and removing things that I have too much of. And get it well organized so that next spring, I can sow seeds, I think. I told my husband the same, he agreed, it is my thing, and he will repair a problem in the roof for me this fall cause now he is home and can do so.
In the meantime, I just try to enjoy what I do have. I cut back on the plants in my patio pots, and went with just a few. To see empty pots or planters around my home is something I just try not to think about – and look away. LOL. I used to LOVE filling every corner of my deck with plants, but I cut back a lot. Meaning I didn’t grow as many and really tried to reduce this hobby expense.
Anyhow, the other day, changing the pace here a bit, I was sitting on a little couch near my kitchen, and I saw a big butterfly flutter by – and I thought, Oh My Gosh, is he going to my planter on the deck?! And he was – visiting the pentas annual pink flower heads and I was able to take photos of a beautiful large swallowtail butterfly. That made my day between the whole greenhouse cleaning reminiscing phase! Maybe it was a little sign. Keep going he said, don’t give up your plant greenhouse passion!
Wow! It’s been a very long time since I’ve written a plant related blog post. Times have changed for me since entering the world of early retirement. It is difficult to have as many plants as I have had in the past because of the care involved, and my goals have changed. To travel means needing care at my home for plants while I’m away, and this is not always possible, so I cut back on having lots and lots of plants. And I also tried to focus on drought tolerant plants, so they won’t need as much watering when I’m away on travel.
I didn’t plant as much either to reduce care needs. But I still have the very serious addiction of needing plants on my deck at home. And to save money, another retirement requirement, I want to still overwinter plants as best as possible to reuse them next year in the summer again.
I have written many times how I’ve stored my red banana plant (Ensete) and Canna Lily rhizomes, and elephant ear tubers (both Alocasias and Colocasias) but it bears repeating my basic steps to remind those who ask this time of year.
Frost Expected Soon
A frost is expected later this week on Thursday, 10/10/24, this year. Tropical plants may be touched by frost if you are storing the underground parts (tubers, rhizomes, corms, etc.), but if you want to store the plant in its pot, it is best to move it before frost, so the foliage doesn’t get damaged, stressed, or destroyed from the chills. Move them in tomorrow or the next day, before the frost hits.
Agaves Disassembled
I also move in Agaves as best as possible into my home, but space is limited. I no longer heat my greenhouse (again to save money for retirement fun), so that option is out. In the past, it was no problem to store my Agaves in my low-temp greenhouse over the winter, so they just barely hung on. And then return them outdoors the next summer, but now I have to move them inside the home.
A few of my agaves got very crowded in their pots because of the side shoot babies which had been forming, so my tactic for taking care of those was to take the agave out of its pot, remove all the babies by carefully tugging them away, trying to keep roots if possible, and then placing the babies in mason jars filled with water to sit for a while. This will encourage new roots. Then for the momma agave, I pruned some roots and remove soil quite a bit to fit it into a smaller pot and then move them inside the home in a space I have by my indoor slider. Done!
The baby agave plants may look a little tattered or uneven but give it time. Soon these will have fresh roots, I’ll replant them into very small appropriately sized pots and let them grow. The shape will be normal over time, and they can grow as big as my big agaves have. This particular agave is Kissho Kan. These plants inside the home of the winter are kept on the dry side, barely watering, and in some sun by either my bedroom or kitchen slider doors. They are easy to overwinter if you have the space.
Agaves in mason jars with water above photo
Alocasia Tubers
I still have to work on my Ensete and other big pot on my deck, but I managed to take apart one of the alocasias in a smaller pot. I cut off all the foliage first, then dig out the base with roots if possible, and some will have the brown papery covering on the tuber area whereas the smaller sides shoots often do not, either way, I store the alocasia tubers in my basement in boxes with just paper wrapped around them or as a bed (like crunched up newspapers). They can go a bit on the dry side and I make sure to have some slits or air holes in the boxes used to store them. This works fine in an unheated basement that does not go below freezing. Colocasias (elephant ears) are stored a bit more on the moist side by using peat as a bed material in the box. Before moving them into boxes (either plastic or just your basic cardboard boxes), I leave the tubers to sit in the sun for a week or days for a while. I don’t put them in immediately. I may even leave them to dry some on a table in my basement if it becomes too wet outdoors due to rain etc.
These plants (the alocasias) can grow very very large, and the tuber gets bigger and bigger each year. I still have quite a few of those to do. The next two days will be sunny so that helps. The alocasia plants have the elephant ears where the tips point upwards to the sky. Regular elephant ears (Colocasia) point downwards. I didn’t do any of the regular ones this season. I’m kind of hooked on the alocasias.
This planter above is my next project. I have to say the alocasia is paired with the most beautiful Coleus Limewire. It is so huge right now; it will be sad to cut it down! It has done wonderfully has a filler plant with the tall alocasia. The burgundy foliage edged with lime green was just stunning when hit by the sun, and the plant was tiny when started, now it is huge! You can also see there is a eucalyptus plant stuck in there, first year I’ve tried one. It is super tall right now and I’ll probably give the plant to my niece. She likes the smell of those plants, but I find the smell disagreeable. However, while it is living in the pot, I haven’t smelled that scent, guess it is when it is cut down.
I took this photo this weekend so I could have a reminder of how large this Ensete (red banana plant) grew this season, which is only year 2 of it. I stored it last year, and it shot up a lot this year with growth, and I have to remind myself to plant it in the larger planter next year, because it fell over twice during windy storms here – thankfully the pot/planter did not crack! I was trying to encourage my black cat to pose with me, she wasn’t having it – she wanted to walk around the deck. Her name is Mini and she is our treasure pet! We just love her. She never bothers my plants, it is like she knows, they are important to me, just like she is.
Anyhow, tomorrow I will start to take these apart and store them and will show the steps but here’s some links from prior posts about the processes I have followed with success.
Please note: Years ago, I would put moist peat with my Alocasia tubers, but no longer. I use paper for those, and it works better. That is for the Alocasias specifically. (For Canna Lily rhizomes, I use peat, and for Colocasia regular elephant ears, I use peat).
A New Year is coming up in just a few days, and what is in store for 2024? It is hard to tell. Things are changing for me. My husband has retired. It feels surreal! It is amazing, and it is an adjustment. New days are coming.
We now feel we will have time to do some gardening together for a change. While he has always been the most enthusiastic helper to my plant endeavors over the years, even learning some of the plant’s Latin names, we could not actually physically build a garden together at our home because he was always so busy with work.
I always fill our long deck along the back of our ranch style home with container gardens filled with plants of all kinds and some vegetables over the years. Tomato plants and hot pepper plants are two of our fav’s. But we have done others like Edamame and pumpkins, just to name two! And of course, many big planters filled with wonderful tropical plants like Ensete, Colocasias, and Canna Lilies.
Steve, my husband, always helped me with the heaving lifting of bringing up pots with a hand-truck to our deck, but sometimes, I was on my own and that is probably how I strained some muscles here and there. We are both getting older and need to be careful with that.
We always dreamed of having a large, raised bed type of garden system in our backyard. One where there are several raised beds in a pattern to walk through, with a fence and arbor entrance. However, one of our big dilemmas is the wild animals! There are plenty in our yard from groundhogs to squirrels. In fact, I usually allow the groundhogs to keep their home under a shed and have babies which are cute to watch scurry across the backyard when they see or hear us at the house or on the deck, but now, how will we ever keep them away if we build our dream vegetable garden in our backyard?
Wild animals have become one of the biggest challenges to gardeners. Some people will put gardens in the front yard or lawns, closer to the street, and that may help keep pests away. However, our front yard is a big hill so that wouldn’t work. Plus, there is no water access up on our front hill.
Sometimes I think we will take down our pool now. It is more costly to maintain. The bucket of chlorine tabs of supplies went up so much in price that we don’t think it will be worth it. The pool filter always breaks, and we are not home in the summers all the time, so we can’t watch the filter basket – stuff like that. Could that area be our new garden space if we did remove our pool? Not sure. Even if it was, it would have to be foolproof to protect from the pests.
That is just one of our goals. I always also grew tomato plants from seed, and it is a wonderful experience. I don’t see the hubby tending to those, but maybe we could grow the plants in our greenhouse till fruit time, but a greenhouse can get very very hot in the summer, maybe too hot to set fruit. Fans and screens need to be maintained, and I suspect insects would be a bigger problem in the greenhouse rather than outdoors where there are more natural insect predators to help. So, I’m not sure on that idea. Maybe I will test it out this year for the first time though. Maybe with smaller tomato plants, like some cherry tomatoes because inside the greenhouse, groundhogs and squirrels can’t enter.
One friend suggested just using the community garden space in our town for a garden, but I would really like to tend to a garden at my home and be able to enjoy it daily. Our backyard is totally surrounded by woods and the river runs down in the back which brings along many types of wild animals. Deer is another. And we all know here in CT how deer love to eat plants. It is like I need a fortress.
We also have lots of home improvement ideas brewing in our minds but which to do first will be the big question. I’m sure we will make a list and decide from there.
Also, I’m kind of semi-retiring myself. I am no longer offering my container garden services and have closed down my business officially via paperwork, but I will always still dabble in plant fun. The other big question is, do I keep my plant blog going?
Can you believe, I’ve written on this blog, Container Crazy CT, for over 15 years? I do have quite a few visitors per my stats, and I added ads this year only because I need helping with maintaining it. For many years, I never put ads on here. I just freely wrote articles to share.
I wonder how much I would miss my blog if I stopped it all together? I have even looked up things on my own blog before to remind me on what I did for this or that. I don’t get many “likes” on this blog on the actual posts – I think it is because people need to log in to do so, and today, clicking likes and heart is so easy for every other platform from Instagram to Facebook, so I think my blog is a bit old fashioned in comparison. It is not so easy to just click like.
When spring arrives, I will have to decide what my new adventures may be. I have often dreamed of getting a pottery wheel and doing pottery in my greenhouse as a new gig. But the expense of a kiln may be too much. Someone told me the other day you can bring pottery to be fired elsewhere – I’ll have to research that. That was always one of my dreams to make my own pottery items.
But the ultimate dream would be to just move to Hawaii. Yup, that kidding husband of mine jokes – Let’s do it – knowing full well he probably would NEVER agree to that! And yes, Hawaii is way too expensive! But dreaming is a good thing – we all should dream – one never knows.
Welp, if you feel like commenting on your thoughts – let me know. Just a week ago, my cousin’s son told me he was researching plant stuff and came across one of my articles from this plant blog. I thought, oh gosh, I hope it was a good article because he is super smart and a talented professional horticulturist himself. What was he looking up? How do deal with squirrels in the garden! Go Figure.
Happy New Year’s to You all. I hope you have some new goals in mind for 2024 too – even if they are unclear like mine.
Yesterday I started the process of taking down my tropical Alocasia and Ensete plants from my container gardens and patio planters at home. It was a nice sunny day, and it is much more pleasant to work on them in the fall when the weather is not cold or too wet. These tropical plants must be removed and stored over the winter because they do not tolerate our cold winters here in Connecticut in pots and planters.
Here’s a photo of the plants I took out of the planters.
October 17, 2023 – Base of Alocasia plants (Upright Elephants Ears) and One Ensete (red banana plant)
And here are my tools:
Tools Typically Used
Garden Sheers, Hori Hori Garden Knife, Kitchen Serrated Bread Knife, Pruners, Trowel, and Small Shovel.
Cutting off the foliage and stems
Cutting back the foliage is the first step and is relatively easy to do. Using the garden sheers or the kitchen serrated knife works perfect. I recorded several videos of me doing this and posted them on my Instagram page as well as my Facebook pages under Container Crazy CT if you wish to see how I used the tools to cut all the foliage back. Here are the links:
For the Alocasia (upright type), I cut off all the leaves with stem (petioles) attached about 6 to 9 inches from the base of the plant. After getting all the foliage off and tossing the items into the compost, the next step is to dig out the base of the plant. This is the area where the corm is at the base (often covered with furry looking or papery material and has the roots attached at the bottom), and up to where the petioles grow from and up to the green part of the plant. Sometimes you will see little round suckers forming at the bottom of the base. For the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to the whole thing as the “base of the plant.”
Base of Alocasia’s above
Base of Ensete (red banana plant) photo above
The components of the Ensete (red banana plant) are a little different than the Alocasia (upright elephant ears) because it does not form a corm per say as the Alocasia does. It is basically like a big stump, with the roots at the bottom. When I cut the leaves off the Ensete, notice I use a knife and cut away from the plant base to avoid nicking or damaging the trunk. Technically, it is called a pseudo-stem formed by the leaf bases but for ease of writing this blog post, I call it the base or the trunk when it comes to the Ensete (red banana plant).
Dig out, Upside Down to Drain, Air Dry
In both cases, the fleshy material can be damp and contain some water so after I dig them out, I lined them up upside down to allow water to drain before laying them on a table in the sun for a few days to dry out some more. If the weather is rainy, I move these into the basement to dry out on a table.
I will trim the roots somewhat so there isn’t as many roots as possible to deal when they are stored in a box. The boxes I use are cardboard with air holes made in them with a knife – slits basically. In a prior post, I talked about how I store the upright Alocasias differently than the regular elephant ears. In my experience, these upright elephant ears store better in a dry and dark state versus a damp and dark state.
I allow the plants to air dry and then I place the base (as shown above) inside a cardboard box that will not allow any light in, and I put the box in a cool, dark place in my basement. I will check them in a few months to see how they are doing. Storing my upright Alocasias this method worked very well last year.
In years prior, I had stored most of my tropical plant bases in plastic bins, with air holes drilled in the top covers, and in some slightly moist peat. This worked well for my Canna Lily rhizomes and regular elephant ears, but I started to see rot on the upright Alocasias and learned dry storage was better for those types of tropical plants. Either way, if you discover the bases are rotting in the boxes, it is best to toss them out. And try again next year.
Now back to how I dig them out of my planters.
The Hori Hori knife is my go-to tool first. I basically stick the knife straight down into the soil and dig around it (the base of the plant) to cut the roots under the soil. I’m careful not to hit the corm or any part of the plant below but I can hear the roots crack as I saw around them with the Hori Hori knife. Sometimes that is all it takes. If that doesn’t get it out, I use a small shovel to dig more around the plant and then I rock the base back and forth with my hands and eventually it comes loose from the soil.
Timing
You can do this process before or after CT’s fall frost, but again, when it is cold wet and frosty, sometimes the corms will start to rot in your pots, so I like to do this “take down” process before things are mushy and wet. It always works for me. I usually do this mid-October when are days are cooling down.
I do brush off or use a leaf blower or just my gloved hands to remove the soil around the roots and the base of the plant base as much as possible. By the way, gloves are mandatory for me – the sap from these can make your hands itch and it is difficult to wash off – so I always wear gloves.
Collapsible Bin – Very Handy
My sister-in-law gave me this bin this year and wow, I wish I had this for years prior. It is so handy. I toss all the foliage in there and toss into the compost.
Check the bases later
As noted above, I will check on the stored boxes of these periodically. Here’s a post I did last March when I check on them and they were doing well. You can see I used newpapers to make a bed for them and how the green is slowly fading on the photo below and eventually it goes dry.
October photo of two of the planters (left Alocasia; Right Ensete)
As you can see, the flowers around the two tropical plants are starting to fade. The Salvias were still blooming (purple flowers), and I will miss those very much because two hummingbirds fed from them all summer. A bee or two was still visiting the blooms as well this month. They were so tall and beautiful. The White mandevilla was still offering some last blooms and the petunias faded pretty much. But the two tropicals still steal the show all the way into our fall season – why I love them so much.
The Ensete (red banana plant) on the right is a new one this year. I had stored a base of an Ensete for over 12-14 years but last year, I lost it, so I scored a new one this season. The Alocasia plants are from an original I got about 4 or so years ago and each year I get more from the pups and the repeat storing of the original. They are tricky to get growing in the spring though – and take a while to start from dormancy, but so worth it. Once they take off – they grow big.
Storing container plants is a way to save money and keep a plant growing larger as the base gets bigger each season. It’s a bit of a process but it went well yesterday for me. I’ve written my steps many times and just use the search bar to locate the posts.
In Connecticut, many plants we use and display in our container gardens and patio pots will not survive the winters here, and must be handled by taking them in as houseplants or storing them by digging out tubers if they have tubers, corms or rhizomes, such as tropical plants like Canna Lilies, Elephants Ears, etc.
I’ve started some of this overwintering setup process already this year. This year, I mostly have agaves, cacti, and succulents to take inside as houseplants candidates. Some of them are rather large and this is becoming like a jigsaw puzzle in my home, because I’m taking them into the house instead of my greenhouse this winter. I don’t want to pay for the heat for my greenhouse – it is becoming too costly. So, I’m literally back to how I used to store plants when I was first into playing with plants over 20 years or so ago!
Pick and Choose the Best Plants to Take Inside
The process of picking and choosing which are worth taking into the home is interesting. I have literally stared at a giant agave and thought, Hmmm, where could I fit this? I’ve rearranged my small home office so a table has space for some plants by a window. And I put many smaller succulent plants (like in 3-4″ pots) in the kitchen garden window over my kitchen sink that faces south. I even moved a small couch from my kitchen sitting area to fit plants under a window facing west there too. Plant people will do anything for their green babies, like a complete furniture rearrangement to make space by a window.
I see people asking all the time on gardening Facebook group pages, what do I need to do to move in this plant? Sometimes it is a tropical Hibiscus plant, other times it is a traditional houseplant they had outdoors, or perhaps it is a giant Canna Lily plant. Everyone has their suggestions, like dousing them with a dish soap liquid combo, or other methods, like putting them in a garage and doing a bug bomb routine, and someone said they even put theirs in paper bags and spray them with insecticide and let that sit for a day to kill any bugs. Are these methods good? Well, if it works for them – perhaps. Not sure about the bag method, however. But you will try anything to take in a plant for the winter and keep it growing or stay dormant so you may use it again next year outside in the summer months here in CT.
My Ground Rules for Taking Plants In:
I, however, use certain “ground rules” for which plants are selected to be brought into the home for the winter. And here are my rules:
The soil must be dry (as dry as possible).
For succulents, cacti, or agaves, I make sure the soil in the pot has dried out – so they were either kept under a patio umbrella (if there’s been rain) or brought into more sun to help dry out the soil on sunny days recently. I make sure the pot is draining very well, even have tipped a pot on its side and let water run out, and I look at the soil to inspect it. If possible, I may tap the plant out of the pot and inspect the roots and just kind of look over if there are any critters in there. Or rotting roots. Dry soil reduces the potential for soil born insects, I find. And cacti, succulents, and agaves do not need lots of moisture in the winter. So before taking them in, I make sure the soil is as dry as possible. We have had a mini summer episode this week for weather, so it is good right now to try to get the soil dry if possible, so I’m doing that now. Rain is coming Saturday. I want to take them in before that.
Blow any Debris off the Plant
I have a small leaf blower and I will use that – especially for Agaves since their leaves are stiff and can take the blowing of air, to remove any debris. Leaves from trees sometimes fall on them and get stuck between the leaves of the plant. A leaf blower is perfect this this – it may blow away a spider or two as well, but spiders are usually good bugs, however, if you have a fear of spiders, you probably want them gone before taking the plant indoors. I cut off any bad or damaged leaves of plants after this. What I’m trying to do is remove any potential for something to cause issues. Some insects feed on decaying plant material, so getting rid of anything decaying on the plant is a must. A vacuum may be another handy tool, and also look under leaves of plants for anything lurking.
Washing the Outside of the Pot
I use soapy dish water to very thoroughly clean the outside of the pot. I want to make sure I’m not bringing along any debris, dirt, or maybe something unseen. All of this is done to prevent bringing in trouble, like hidden insects or any kind of lurking problem. It is a precaution of sorts. But worth doing.
Selecting Best Location Possible Inside
It is tough if you don’t have a glass house, but there are some places I know my plants could make it. Some of my medium sizes agaves went inside the bedroom by the slider. It is Southeast, it will get some sun, just enough to hang in there. I put the mini succulents in the kitchen garden window but remember that window gets cold in winter, but most succulents or cacti can take “some cold”. On good days, I am sure to open the little side windows on the garden window to give the plants air circulation. I also put some on a table in my home office which faces north. I’m not sure if that is going to work though, but I may get a small grow light and try that location. That window and room is colder, but not as cold as an unheated greenhouse would be. However, there are some succulents that actually are fine with less sun so those will go in the office. My bathroom small window works for a couple plants. Plants that don’t need a lot of sun and like humidity from the bathroom shower may go on a little table there.
Spraying Plants with Houseplant & Garden Insect Killer
This I do with only some. If a plant has a bug issue and I see it – and it is bad, it doesn’t make the selection list at all to bring inside. It is too much of a risk to increase and spread. If I may suspect a tiny problem; I may lightly spray the plant before bringing it in to try to treat it. Garden Safe is one I have used. But I truly don’t do this too much. Look at the bottle label on the back, make sure it is a safe product for your particular houseplant candidate (some products should not be used on particular types of plants), and do that outside before you bring it in. Again, I avoid plants with problems, and usually I don’t have too many big issues because I coddle my plants in the summer as well. Many people use insecticidal soaps or horticulture oils, etc. Ask your local nursery person for a good product or browse those sold in stores, but read the label on the back, open it up and see if any plants should not have that spray on them.
Giving Plants Away
I select the people I give my plants to with as much carefully thought-out consideration as I do with which plants come into my home. My sister-in-law has a beautiful big glass living room, and she has a green thumb. I just gave her one of my huge Jades. She was thrilled. I have given her plants before, and she always keeps them thriving for years. It makes me feel good when I see the plants in her home, but I also have that tang of jealousy, like, wow, I gave that one away?! But like I said, my house is small. And she truly does take good care of them.
Overwintering Saves Money for Next Season
Overwintering plants is a way to save money and also is a method to keep your treasured long time plant companions going for years. It also adds beauty inside your home. And life! But probably the biggest concern people will have been insects and the correct place to put your plant so it can make it. A room with absolutely no light may not work for the houseplant candidates. It depends greatly on the type of plant and the temperature too in the house. If you keep a room totally unheated, that can stress a plant. But that room may be perfect for tubers you are storing in boxes, for example. I will go over tuber and storing of corms and rhizomes again soon.
I have a rather large Agave which I’m currently trying to figure out where to fit it. It has matured so much over the years; it is huge and heavy! I noticed one day ants going to the base of the large pot. I thought, uh-oh. I won’t move that one in the house without potentially taking it all together out of the pot and removing all the soil – what a chore, and it can be dangerous due to their spines. I’m still contemplating this one. Should I try to sell it? It’s a monster! What will I do? I don’t know.
Other methods:
There are other ways to capture some of the parts of the plants like taking off-sets or cuttings of annuals or even some succulents will have off-sets or plants on the stalks, seed gathering for other types of plants, etc. And storing tubers or rhizomes of tropical plants which I will most likely cover here again, but I also have many posts from years past on this on this blog. Use the search bar to search for them. But right now, I’m focused on my agaves, cacti and succulents for this post.
Keep your Inspection Hat On!
Finally, once you have decided to keep a plant and take it indoors, keep your inspection hat on. Look over the plants every few weeks or even every few days initially. If you see a problem, act on it before it spreads. Reduce watering greatly for cacti, succulents, and agaves. They don’t need water much during the winter.
Thank you for visiting!
Cathy Testa Plant Blogger Connecticut Date: 10/4/2023, Warm sunny weather this week but rain and cold on Saturday!
I have a post from 2013 on how I stored my Big Red Banana Plant (tropical plant). It is sometimes difficult to search for, so I’m linking it here below for those asking:
Back in 2019, I received a voicemail from a gentleman, and he was looking for a gardener for his balcony. I immediately felt a certain tone in his voice. Something about the phrases he used and his professional manner in his voicemail to me made me feel this would be a call worth returning. And, my friends, it was.
It led to quite the adventure of planting not only one but two high rise balconies for five years, located on the very top floor of a building in Hartford, CT. It’s a good thing I do not fear heights, because if you did, you would not be able to look over the railing at the scenes far below. It can make a person with a fear of heights queasy.
There’s something special about working in a high-rise urban situation. The background city sounds are constant, but they are not the typical sounds I hear at my home, which is filled with birds and maybe a slight sound of road traffic. On a high-rise, you hear sirens, distant constant highway background noises, an occasional high-flying hawk, and air sounds. I liked that. It is not overpowering, just there and didn’t bother me. In fact, because I have tinnitus, I rather liked the background city sounds. It drowned out my tinnitus and also the enjoyment of working in this special place, made me not focus on tinnitus either! Plus, the views were enough to not even think about the background noises.
I also liked how you are up there overlooking the world, and no one knows you are. It is a really neat and inspiring situation. One time, when working on their planters, two helicopters flew right near there, as if a pair flying together. I thought, can they see me here, and I even wondered if it was the president. I had read he visited an area in CT that day.
And after a few rounds of plantings, I started to see bees. Usually, a solo one or two. One time, the client heard a tree frog in the planters. They could not locate it, but they were amazed, and so was I! He either hitched a ride on one of my nursery pots, or could it be possible he climbed up that high?! The balconies are 38 floors up! I always liked pressing that PH button in the elevators, I have to admit.
I thought, gee, I so wish I landed this opportunity when I was younger. I was very excited to work for these clients and their balcony gardening projects, and yes, it was all very large planters the full length of the balconies. Fortunately, they referred me to another couple in the same building, so had two wonderful sets of clients and wonderful planting scenarios.
Probably the best part of it all was the upmost appreciation for my planting work and craft by these clients. I was told often that I was an artist. Can you imagine how that felt? It was wonderful and meaningful to me. And their flexibility, as they fully understood this planting situation is unique and has special challenges. They were always, always polite and understanding because things unexpected can happen on a high-rise situation with plants. I knew it would be challenging yet extremely fun and rewarding for a plant person. Plus, I liked their style. Both had their own unique style, and it was fun to think about how to best meet their needs in that regard as well.
Working on a high rise has many challenges. Try – no water sources outside. Extreme winds that will shred plants. Cold temperatures when I did winter installs. And in the summer, extreme heat. I had a lot to learn and research. And, not to mention, going up and down constantly in an elevator. I am lucky I am a thinker about organization because you have to organize all to be efficient in those situations. And I got to witness how plants respond differently in a high-rise balcony situation in planters, pots, and spaces. Plant colors are different when experiencing extreme heat, they grew to amazing large sizes in some cases, which blew me away. I would plant a small herb and it would reach the size of a shrub by the end of summer. It would shock me sometimes, like wow, they love this sunshine and heat! I read somewhere you could not grow tomatoes on a high-rise, NOT! You sure can and they were wonderful.
I thought it would be a great idea to talk about the plants which worked well in these situations and what didn’t work so well on a high-rise. And write about my high-rise balcony gardening adventures. I actually had trouble finding good books on balcony gardening. I could write one of my own I guess, but I choose to use my blog, here on Container Crazy CT, to write about scenarios I encountered in a series of posts.
It begins today!
Sneak Peak of a Row of Big Square Planters
A tapestry of succulents in long square planters – Loved how this came out in year one!
I’m not sure exactly where to start but these two images above are sneak peeks of two of the many planters. The first is client number 1 and after much thought and questions, I ended up putting together a mini garden and I loved how the deep plums accentuated it. And for the other photos, it was a mix of succulents. Some grew two to three sizes larger in one summer. It was amazing. I will write about these and many other planting arrangements as I do my series of posts upcoming!
More later!
Cathy Testa Container Crazy CT Date of post: 9/12/2023 Location of Photos: Hartford, CT My Location: Broad Brook, CT
Just a reminder, I offer watering services for your plants during the heat of summer. Focus is on container gardens, patio pots, window boxes, hanging baskets, raised garden beds, and anything grown in pots. I also water community garden plots. I do not handle newly installed landscaping areas or trees recently planted.
If you are in need and are local to or near my area, reach out by contacting me. I’d be happy to provide more information and availability with an information sheet detailing all. While we had a great deal of rain, the hot days are coming! It is nice to return from your vacations knowing your precious plants are not going to suffer while you are gone. Plants put out the most blooms and focus on fruits in the height of summer, which is why watering and care is so important when you are away.
I also offer help with monitoring your plants for any problem insects as well while you are away. They are best caught early, and this is part of the service when watering and I’ll pick up mail or other items for you too. When plants become stressed and thirsty, it signals pests to attack. Keeping up with your watering and come home to beautiful, lush plants!
Thank you and enjoy this beautifully sunny day,
Cathy Testa Container Crazy CT 860-977-9473 (Texts welcome. I’m also on Facebook under Container Crazy CT. DM’s welcome!) containercathy@gmail.com
Located in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor, CT. References provided upon request. See also http://www.WORKSHOPSCT.com for more service listings.
Salvias are definitely a favorite by the hummingbirds visiting my surroundings at home. I have 2 male hummingbirds and I’ve seen one female hummingbird so far. Every evening, one visits my Salvia blooms between 5 and 6 pm.
Cathy T’s Planters at Home with Salvias, Sky Petunias, and other plants.
This one with the fuchsia-colored blooms seem to be his favorite. A male hummingbird pops by it and bounces from bloom to bloom. This one I don’t have the plant tag for but the darker Salvia in the taller planter is Salvia Rockin’ Deep Purple.
Salvia Rockin’ Deep Purple
The Rockin Deep Purple hybrid is a bit shorter than the other one. I’m not sure if the other one just bolted more due to weather conditions. Rockin Deep Purple Salvia reaches about 30-40″ tall per the plant’s tag.
Salvia with Fuchsia-colored Blooms
I didn’t have a tag for this one, but it has the most beautiful vivid deep fuchsia color to its blooms. They all have an upright and vertical habit and bloom till end of the summer season here in Connecticut. They are treated as an annual here in Connecticut as well.
Sky Petunias
I wanted more color this year in my planters to attract the hummingbirds and butterflies. Although I’ve witnessed butterflies going by my trees near my house often this year, I still haven’t managed to catch one on a bloom. The Sky Petunia annuals really add a nice pop of color. Although, I tend to love big foliage plants, I decided to add these along with the Salvia plants. The hummingbirds do not feed from the Petunias (yet). I’ve seen them look at them, but they do not feed for whatever reason.
My New Blue Glazed Pot
My sister-in-law gave me this nice big blue glazed pot because she moved into an apartment and there is no place for outdoor gardens. She generously donated this pot to me. So, yesterday, I wanted to again add color around my deck and got a Salvia Black & Bloom to plant with these other annuals.
Sweet Georgia Heart Light Green (Sweet Potatoe Vine).
I added a Sweet Potatoe Vine with a bright light green color to give an additional contrasting pop of color. I felt like I hadn’t planted a sweet potato vine in years. It was like being reunited with an old friend. This one picks up on the colors of the Coleus in the planter which has edges in a similar color. Sweet potatoes vines are vigorous once they get established so it will spill over the pot’s edges eventually.
Coleus Vino
I swear I had no idea this cultivar was called Coleus Vino! LOL! Contrast is so key and the darker tone next to the bright tone of the potatoe vine would work I thought when I grabbed this Coleus. The edges are perfect to pair.
Salvia Black & Bloom
This one has many flower buds about to open. I think this one is popular and I’ve seen huge plants of this one before many times. It reaches 24-36″ tall and blooms spring till fall. I’m hoping my humminbird friend will spot this one as well soon.
The Salvias like full to part sun, and the Coleus likes full sun and/or shade.
In the center of the blue planter, I put an upright Alocasia that is just starting to push its top growth out of the soil. Hopefully all will look splendid together this summer as the planter fills out.
Tucked in the back is a Heliotrope. A purple bloomer.
Heliotrope
I think I saw Heliotropes for the first time when I worked at a small business in Grandby. The owner liked these and used them a lot. They are low-maintenance, just like Salvias, in my opinion. However, I felt they were (the Heliotropes that is) a bit old fashioned looking for my taste. I must be getting older cause I like them now, but my overall goal was more color in my container gardens.
As for the hummingbirds, I am always thrilled to see and hear them around me. I put out feeders with the sugar water and one trick I do to make sure the sugar water remains fresh is I don’t fill the feeders all the way. I usually put about 1/3 of the mix in there and it forces me to refresh it often. Sometimes sugar water goes sour and that can make the hummingbirds sick or may even die. It is also good to keep sugar water out of full sun and wash the feeders between refills. I would never want to hurt a hummingbird as they are far too precious.
About two weeks ago, I witness a hummingbird do a u-shape pattern by my honeysuckle perennial plant in the ground. They like honeysuckles too. But back to the dance he did, I witnessed that same thing a few years back. I read it has to do with a mating dance. As noted below on Princeton’s website, they dive up and down (to me as a u-shape) and it is a super-fast motion. Very cool to witness!
I also have seen a hummingbird perch on the power lines to the corner of my house. Every evening, around 6 pm, there he is perched. He looks left to right up and down for about 5 or so minutes, takes off, comes back and does it again. I started to wonder if he/or maybe it is she, has a nest nearby in my front landscape.
“Hummingbirds are no exception when it comes to snazzy performances, as males of many species perform spectacular courtship dives. Broad-tailed hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus) fly up to 100 feet in the air before sweeping down toward a perched female, then climb back up for a subsequent dive in the opposite direction. At the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, home to a population of breeding broad-tailed hummingbirds, researchers from Princeton University have been investigating how hummingbirds combine speed, sound and color in their displays. Their work appears in the Dec. 18 issue of the journal Nature Communications.”
Lastly, above it the Salvia plant label. I spotted some yesterday at Dzens garden stand, and you could probably find these at The Garden Barn in Vernon, CT or at Revay’s Garden Center in Broad Brook, CT. However, some of the local nurseries are already low on stock and/or appear to be closing. I think June 14th is way too early to close shop, but I realize patterns dictate. However, us plant junkies do need our plant fixes all summer long. If you see some good Salvias and want hummingbird visitors, I suggest you grab them fast. They really do attract hummingbirds!!
Find me on Facebook and Instagram under Container Crazy CT
Don’t forget – I’m offering Watering Services again this summer! It will get very hot eventually. Contact me at 860-977-9473 if you are local and have the need. Thank you – Cathy T.
Today I am sharing a photo I had taken by a professional photographer of my large and beautiful red banana plant in 2013. I have stored this plant every winter and regrow it in a very large cement walled raised bed in my backyard. The bed faces east and is situated on the backside of my pool and lower deck. The top of the plant becomes visible from the upper levels of my deck when it reaches about twelve to fifteen feet tall.
However, last year was the last season I grew this particular one because it rotted in my over-wintering storage bin for the very first time in 10 years. I’m not sure why it didn’t survive. Maybe it just got tired of the routine of being “put away” and its thick heavy large trunk was unable to tolerate the overwintering process after so many years.
I have written about my storage process many times on this blog website. I will share the links below for your reference. It is a massive tropical beauty with long wide red leaves. While it is hardy in zones 9-10, it is not hardy here in Connecticut, thus it will not survive frosts and our winters. It must be taken down in October to store and regrow in the springtime.
Mine has never produced bananas, which would be inedible if it did. It never had the opportunity to produce flowers due to being cut down each autumn season, but I have read this plant does produce inedible fruit in the wild on older plants. Most people grow them here for the show they put on. The plant grow super tall, has leaves with red coloring, and the mid-rib area is also a deep burgundy red with a slight yellow green on the sides. The mid-ribs on the leaves are very thick and a feature I admire as well as the plants overall height, red coloring, and dramatic tropical look.
I cannot recall if the first one I purchased was from a grower by the name of Sunny Border in Kensington, Connecticut, but I believe it may have been there, and I returned there years ago to get more to sell during my container gardening workshops. They referred to their tropical plants as “temperennials” which included other beautiful tropical plants I admire because they put on a show such as Brugmansia (Angel’s Trumpets), Colocasia (Taro or Elephant Ear), Cordyline (Palm Lily), Cynara cardunculus (Cardoon), Phormium (New Zealand Flax), and and Musa (Banana). There are many flowering tropical plants as well to be had, but I tend to favor large showy leaves in my container gardens as the main thriller plant in combinations.
When I see larger plants at local nurseries here and there of this plant, they are pricy. But it is worth the investment if you know how to overwinter them. Consider mine which lasted ten years, it was purchased as a small starter plant in a 5″ square nursery pot years ago. Hopefully, I will be able to locate some more of that starter size going forward because I will miss this plant in my planter this season of 2023.
The planter where I always placed mine in the center, as seen in the photo below, is rather large. It has 6-foot-tall walls and is about 15 or more feet across. I’d have to go measure it to be exact, but at the moment, I’m too lazy and it is cold outside! But it is large. It has an open bottom floor to the natural ground below. It contains a mix of soil mix from fresh, to some used soil potting mix of other larger pots when I would toss it away and mix it in, and it has compost, but overall, the soil just evolved into a nice, rich, fertile soil. Due to its east location, it tends to stay on the moist side as well. The cement planter is more like a garden size, and I just love it because it is easy to work in. I do not have to bend down to the ground and may easily reach in to plant various plants around the Ensete red banana plant in the center. When I work in the soil of this big cement planter, I see worm castings and it is a sign they like the soil there as well. The planter is somewhat hidden from sight, and I have walked friends and family over to see it, and they are always surprised at its massive size. One would wonder why I put the cement planter there, and the reason is because my eyes and mind told me – put a planter there. I had envisioned a stone floor in front of it creating a path, but I still have not ventured into creating the path. I also envisioned putting a nice material on the front walls to make it more artistic but alas, I still have not done that process either. Maybe someday.
The huge leaves reaching five to six feet long move around in the wind and have a shiny look to them. When the sunlight hits the leaves, it creates a glowing look and I find this feature very enjoyable as well. These plants also grow very fast in one season. Every year, I’d take the trunk out which would be stored for the winter in a bin with peat. In springtime, I put the trunk base into a temporary starter type large patio pot and place it in my greenhouse to get started. Then around late May, it would be planted outdoors in my large cement planter. To water the plant and its counterpart filler plants, I take my garden hose to shower it from above the deck during the summer. I find the watering part therapeutic. If you’re looking to create a tropical exotic feel to your garden spaces, I would highly recommend the Ensete (red banana plant) on your growing list and keep an eye out for it when you are out shopping for plants for your larger container gardens and patio pots.
Botanical name for the red banana plant is:
Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’
Thank you for visiting,
Cathy Testa of Container Crazy CT Located in Broad Brook, CT
Overwintering Alocasia (al-oh-KAY-see-uh) plants, dug up from a large cement planter in my yard yesterday 10/11/22.
Since this plant is not hardy in my Connecticut planting zone (6b), they must either be dug up and stored (tubers) in a cool, dry place. Alternative options, if the plants are small enough, is overwintering them as houseplants in small pots where you have a sunny room. Or just moving the pots with the plant in tact into an unheated basement and letting them go dormant, but check to add moisture to the pot’s soil from time to time, and check for any insects on the foliage if moved in the pot. In this case, I dug up the plants, removed the foliage, and air dried the tubers yesterday outdoors.
The Planter – Cement
Because yesterday was sunny and warm, I wanted to get to the elephant’s ears in this planter. I was already tired from being on my feet all day, so I rushed getting these out. Luckily for me, the soil is super soft in this big cement planter due to worms and just great healthy soil. Rather than cut all the foliage off first, like I typically do, I dug around the tuber areas in the soil to break free some roots and just pulled them out one by one from the plant stems.
10/12/22 Before Removing the Elephant’s Ears plants
The soil and exposure
The soil in this planter stays relatively moist and receives the east morning sun, so it primarily gets partial sun or dappled sun, it doesn’t get too hot in this area. I do not fertilize – literally – I do not in this cement planter. Over the years, I’ve added recycled soil (from other pots), maybe some compost, but not often, and it is possible some wood ash from the woodstove in our basement, that is used only occasionally, was tossed in there by my husband, but I asked him not to do that after a while (wood ash changes the pH of soils). It is apparent when I dig in the soil, it has worm castings and the soil is very soft and easy to dig into. This is why I was able to pull out the tubers with the plant on the top rather easily after I broke the roots around the base with a trowel. I didn’t even use a shovel.
Laying the plants on the ground after digging them out
I do, however, water this planter by using a garden hose from above and showering it every time I was out there watering my other patio pots above on my deck. We had a very dry season this summer here in Connecticut so I’m sure the tropical plants in this cement planter enjoyed the moisture I gave them. These tropical like plants like moist soils, part shade or some full sun. After getting them out, I laid them on the ground and got my machete, which I finally found where I had stored it!
Chop off the foliage, then lay in the sun
It was super easy to chop off the foliage and stems with my machete. One whack and it was done! Then I put them in a laundry basket to sit in the sun for the rest of the afternoon, later, I moved the laundry basket to my basement. It will sit there drying a while before I move them to bins or paper bags for the winter. Some references will say to wait until the foliage dies back or wait till the foliage is hit by frost to dig and store the tubers, however, I like to work on nice days and yesterday was it – sunny and warm. I store mine in the basement, in a corner by the door, which is an unheated basement but it does not go below freezing in winters. We have a woodstove at the other end of the basement, but it is only used on stormy winter days when we feel like it. We do not use the woodstove to heat the house, only to warm it up sometimes. This means those tubers in the corner stay cold, but they never freeze there. It must be cold, but not freezing, and not too warm either. If warm, they may get soggy or start growing.
Side Shoot on Right
Notice my logo on the left side of this photo above; do you see the brown original tuber? The plant this season grew from the side of this tuber (a side shoot) which is attached on the right. Sometimes there are smaller side shoots which you may pull apart to create separate plants and replant those side shoots. Also the green parts above the brownish tuber is this year’s plant and I cut it about 4-5″ above the brown tuber in most cases when I remove them. I usually leave the green plant (like a stump or root base) on there but I am not absolutely sure that is required, because when I received the tubers, there was just the brown dry tuber to plant.
After Photo
It probably took me only a half-hour to get those elephant’s ears (in this case, Alocasia macrorrhiza, known as giant elephant’s ear or giant taro) out of the cement planter. I was lucky I think it was easy. I know rain is coming tonight and some parts of Connecticut got hit by a quick light frost already, but no hard frost here yet in East Windsor, CT. When it is a true frost, all the foliage will blacken and flops over. Next is to get to those tall Canna lily plants on the ends of this planter dug out and store the rhizomes or the whole root base.
Note: A. macrorrhiza is hardy in zones 8-10 from what I’ve read, but here in Connecticut (zone 6b for me), they are not hardy (will not survive in the ground over the winter months). Also, when I dug these out – there was no rot on any of the tubers, which is good news. Sometimes, if I wait too long to dig these out, there may be rot spots on the tubers because of cold, wet soils later in October. This is another reason why I like digging them out now. I don’t want any soft rotten spots on the tubers, rot only leads to storage problems as the rot may continue on the tuber, which is what you don’t want.
Sit to dry out a bit more before storing
Because these plants get huge and are gorgeous, I had to take the time to save them. I will let those tubers sit in a bin, spaced out for air, probably for another five days before I store them. I have always typically stored them in peat in bins with air holes in the lids, but last year, as noted on prior posts, they rotted a little. I am going to try storing them in paper bags in cardboard boxes this year with air holes. Plastic bins can trap moisture and for some reason, it just seemed they were too wet last year (maybe I was rushing too much last year, and stored them too wet). I have found when my rhizomes for Canna Lily were too dry stored, they didn’t make it. I have always balanced a bit of moisture from the peat and air, but I believe the Alocasias prefer more on the dry side. Everyone has different techniques for storing from what I’ve seen and read over the years.
Prior was making pumpkins
Prior to doing all of this quickly yesterday afternoon, I made a few more orders of my centerpiece succulent topped pumpkins. They were so fun to make and took me a few hours – and my feet give me a hard time, now that I’m getting a little older, standing for hours can be rough. I even put foam on the floor – below my feet, but I felt it later. I tend to make these centerpiece arrangements standing up, and anyhow, these are what I made for some requests. It was a perfect day to do them – sunny in the greenhouse. It’s that time of year when I’m making pumpkin centerpieces and still putting away plants and supplies.
Succulent Topped Pumpkin Centerpieces by Cathy Testa of Container Crazy CT
If interested in a custom pumpkin, now is the time to order since it is pumpkin season. They last for months!
Container Crazy CT 