through the summer will soon be at the end of their life cycle and will be pulled out to make room
for fall color and spring flowering bulbs. Don’t be too quick to compost all your summer color! Some
of these beauties can be easily overwintered for enjoyment next summer. I’ve included these photos
of a Dragon Wing begonia and a Gartenmeister fuchsia that I kept over from last season. Last fall,
when I was emptying planters at the nursery, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out these two as they
were still blooming and looking great. I dug them out of the planters and shoved them in 2 gallon
pots. I cut the fuchsia back to roughly 5 inches tall and the begonia to 3 inches. Then I brought them
home for their winter accommodations in my attached garage. This is a perfect place to overwinter
tender plant material because it remains cool but is always above freezing. I watered sparingly over
the winter months (meaning once every 6 weeks or so) so they have just enough moisture to survive
during dormancy. In April I moved them out into my unheated greenhouse and began increasing their
waterings. Soon they were leafing out again and as you can see they were gorgeous this past summer.
Give this a try if you have an attached garage or other suitable cool space. The rewards are worth it!
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