Flowers in the Basement

We have cold winters here.  It’s a blessing and a curse for gardeners. The blessing is that we get a chance to take a breather and plan for the next year, order seeds and/or plants, and rethink our overall master garden plan. The curse is that we miss getting our hands in the dirt and we miss having fresh flowers and vegetables and we miss being out in the sunshine. A bigger curse is that we have to bring in all our outdoor plants that we want to ‘save’ that can’t winter over.

I usually keep most of them in the garage because it is kind of insulated and doesn’t usually get below about 38 degrees at its coldest. The problem with putting them in the garage is that I totally forget to take care of them at all. Sometime during the winter they need a little water and this is where I miss out typically. About half of the plants I put in the garage will not make it to spring. Every year I swear I will do better but I end up doing the same thing year after year.

A very few plants I put in our reading room. The choice is usually a geranium, maybe two, and perhaps a non-hardy herb but not too many plants because there just isn’t enough room. I keep several houseplants in that room year round and they take up most of the unused space. When the outdoor plants come in, they get crowded next to the year round indoor plants and it looks pretty messy. The good thing is that I usually remember to water these plants because I spend a lot of time in that room.

Finally, I have a few large plants I bring in every winter and there is no place to put them except in the basement laundry room. There is some light in the room and it has what I would call a temperate climate–cool and dry. The plants shed their leaves during the first few weeks after they come inside but start to recover after only about a month. So, I bring them in around the first of November and by December 1st they are putting on new growth. This year I took three hanging baskets of mixed flowers/herbs to the basement, and my favorite plant, an orange flowered double hibiscus. The plants only need water about once every three weeks and since I am in the laundry room every Saturday, it’s easy to remember to care for them. What I somehow manage to forget is that the hibiscus puts on flower buds. For some reason I don’t notice the buds coming on and getting large. Then, one Saturday I will go in the laundry room and there it is. A beautiful, exotic, huge, bright orange double hibiscus flower. Sometimes there will be 2, 3 or even 4 flowers all open at once. I am always gloriously surprised to see them. This surely is one of the blessings of winter. Flowers in the basement.