Gardening advice: Some of your plants shouldn’t be subjected to frost. And there are advantages to bringing some flowering plants indoors instead of letting them die off and planting new ones next year, Jeff Lowenfels says.
This is the one column I don’t like writing. It is the one where I lay out what to do when that first frost is pending. I never repeat a column, but this one simply feels wrong. It is the same information every year.
Not me. The plants we save usually do better as they age. Take fuchsia and tuberous begonias, two of the staples in Alaska containers that should not be hit by a frost and should be stored for the winter season. It is easy to bring yours in when a frost is threatened. Our dahlias are still blooming and yours probably are as well. Thankfully, dahlias can take a frost or three, so let them continue to flower. When you do dig yours up, you will find the one tuber you planted this spring is now a banana-like mass of many. Each will generate a new plant next spring if you handle them properly. Let the green die back and then cut it off. You must leave an inch or so of the base of the stalk attached.