Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't been very active online. I've been working (two jobs) in Garrett County MD and living up here for the summer. I brought a lot of my "special" plants with me so I could take good care of them. The rest of my "zone-denial" garden was left to fend for itself aside from once-a-week vists. Suprisingly, a lot of the plants from Africa and Central America didn't even start putting on growth until things started to get toasty and dry out. I now have a backyard full of 12' tall castor beans, and Mammoth and Bolivan sunflowers. I still have a few weeks of warmer weather down in Cumberland and I'm hoping to get everythingout of the ground and a lot of it swapped out by the end of September. I don't have a greenhouse this year so everything is going to have to be semi-dormant or treated as a houseplant.
Up here in McHenry, fall comes early. Today its brisk, and the forcast for the next few days looks like low 40's and 30's. I've taken some of my tropicals into the house I'm renting's sunroom. Should I just relax until things get a little more nippy. Daytime temps are still getting into the 70's and the plants are in an enclosed bricked courtyard. Thanks for any input.
Peace,
Nate
Hi Nate,
I was wondering what happened to you. Where is McHenry? If you get into the 30's you'll probably get foliage damage but I wouldn't worry about root damage since the daytime temps are still warm. I hope you had a good summer.
Karyn
Hi, I'm in LaVale, MD near the Country Club Mall right down the freeway from you. I'm no expert as this is only my second year growing them (I have 16 different colors), but pretty much if you can grow one kind of plant, it gives you some idea of how to do other kinds of plants. Bring them inside when you would bring in any other house plant. I spent all summer getting them to grow big & I don't want to have to grow them all over again next year. I'm going to keep my variegated & babies growing under lights.
But accidents do happen such as this spring when I was putting my original plant outside on nice days. It did OK under the lights all winter but it really perked up in real sun. So I put it in & out all spring until one evening I realized I had forgotten to get it. It was about 20F by then & it died back to the dirt. I thought it was a goner but it grew back & is 4 feet tall now & blooming like crazy. I wouldn't want them to get anywhere near that cold again. I'll probably move mine in if it gets much below 40F.
LaVale is near Cumberland in Allegany County in western MD & McHenry is in Garrett County, far western MD. We brug people sure are few & far between in this area.
