need help w keeping plants thru winter
 

Hey, ladies, I live in Midwest (Mo) & move most of my outside plants to the garage for the winter. Never have problem with freezing even w the garaged doors open periodically. But lose a percentage due to lack of water, bad me, this year I want to try something different. Have several large pots of asparagus fern, spider plants, as well as boston ferns, elephant ears, & Swedish ivy. Am I better off trimming them back drastically & watering occasionally? As it is now, they shed badly, make a mess in garage, & don't help dh disposition. Most come back in early spring but would like to keep down shedding & help early growth. Know I have some gardeners here as well as quilters so thought someone could answer this. Thanks.

I'm not a gardener but I know that if they are dispersed through the house they help with the humidity in the dry winter months. That is what I used to do. if they are shedding a lot, I would think they need some water now.

Stop all fertilizer October 1, and don't fertilize again until April. You do. It want to force the plants to grow when temperatures and light are not optimal. The boston ferns will drop lots of leaves and will basically go dormant if you put them in an unheated garage or basement. Thrown some water on them occasionally, about once a month, but basically forget them. Just don't let them freeze. Put them outside in the early spring, when they won't freeze, and they will come back beautifully. The other plants will shed leaves, especially if light is low. Give them as much light as possible. Don't fertilize or over water.

Most of them are prone to spider mites if kept in a dry house. I would trim them back and not let the dry out, but don't water them too often. Make sure they have no bugs when you bring them inside and check the drain holes as slugs may be in there. May be a good idea to repot them with new potting soil.

i have collection of geraniums - ivy, martha washington, pelagoniums plus several varieties of succulents. i trim back summer growth starting now & repot all into white vinyl planters i got at yard sale. old potting soil, they don't need the good stuff, i don't want to encourage themto grow. i water lightly about once a month. i keep all in a garden shed. they get some light but not much. i bring them out in mar or april and shield fr sun w lathe scraps until they are hardened off and can stay out w/o sunburn. if temps drop to freezing (as frequently happens here) the lathe also helps protect the plants. while in the shed, i do once in a while in late winter clean up any dry leaves etc when i am out watering & checking on them. kinda cool to hike out thru the snow to shed and play in my "garden" for a few. :)

Asparagus fern will stand cold down to 15 degrees above 0.

Last year I worried about my indoor plants (only thing to have in Alaska) while being gone on vacation--and a solution I came up with to water them is to take small plastic water bottles and poke holes in the lids--easy to do with a pin--and tip lid down in the soil--the plants draw water from them when the soil gets dry.

Put your spider plants (maybe your asparagus plant as well) in a high humidity room such as a bathroom or keep a humidifier running for them .. That is what I do with mine

Thanks for the great tips ladies. I have some ferns and geraniums that I would like to try and save until next spring. This was a timey post.

Thanks to all to responded, lots of good advice. We'll see how many I can keep till spring.