Many of us want to save plants from one growing season to the next, but haven't greenhouses or even enough south windows to keep them growing all winter. I encourage these plants to go dormant, then hold them in a cold place until they must be allowed to prepare for spring. I am blessed with a storeroom in my unheated basement that has a window. I can keep its opening adjusted as outside temperatures change so the interior temperature remains just above freezing. I have a mini-max thermometer to check the daily highs and lows, and after several years of use, I have learned when to open wider or close down in response to the weather reports(if you plan to be out of town for a few days, shut the window while you are gone). My goal for the "cold room" is between 35 and 40 degrees.
I keep potted geraniums, asparagus fern and vinca vine, fuchsia pots, potted tender bulbs like Hymenocallis (the one native to the Southeast), Agapanthus, lemon verbena, and some perennial cuttings that weren't mature enough to be planted out last fall. I also have tried a number of things this year that I have never kept this way before: Helichrysum (licorice plant), lemon grass, some cutting grown verbenas, Dipladena, Allamanda and a tropical Passionflower. This is also where I keep my alpine trough garden (nothing over winters in a container outside in Minnesota during an average winter).
Today, I brought out some of these plants that have already begun their growth despite the cold and being kept as dry as possible without killing them. The geraniums, asparagus fern, lemon verbena, Agapanthus and trough garden are sprouting.
They do pose a problem for me. They now need light, but the light in their "cold room" is inadequate. It is a tiny, high basement window facing west. They will have to make do with the light they receive sitting on the floor next to my lighted shelves. That puts them about 24 to 30" from the tubes on the lowest shelf. As always, they grow thin, weak stems that reach out to find more light. These obviously, are not going to be prized specimens for the garden! What to do? Take cuttings. Just as I did in the fall with the tender things that couldn't stand the cold dormancy, I now set new plants from these survivors that will be young, stocky and ready to go when we do finally get to begin outside. Even the larger plants that I use for the cuttings profit. By the time they regroup and begin again in this cold, poorly lighted area, they will be closer to their spring liberation.
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