In summer, time typically moves slower, as motivation is diminished by hot weather and vacation activities. Then, the first of September happens, and suddenly the pace of life revs up to warp speed, as every activity in the world restarts. Meetings and commitments multiply, hours of daylight diminish, and gardeners are often caught in a bind. Before you can really enjoy the asters and mums, or bid a poetic goodbye to the butterflies and skippers, night temperatures start to drop. At about that time, many of us realize that it is time to bring the houseplants indoors after their vacations in the summer sunshine.
I have a fair number of houseplants, plus tropicals that I am babysitting for my daughter, and geraniums that I want to overwinter so I won’t feel starved of color as the darker months progress. Pots need to be cleaned off, leaves checked for bugs, small containerized specimens consolidated into larger containers, lights set up, and appropriate saucers found—all before the frigid fingers of frost strangle the life out of tender plants.
I am a busy person, and, truth be told, I like it that way. Therefore, even though I am passionate about gardens and plants, I have to make the best possible use of my time. To get all the plants safely in the house ahead of Jack Frost, I simply bring in a plant or two every time I go out the front or back door. I have an indoor holding area in my kitchen where the plants can stay temporarily until I have had time to check them, clean plants and containers, and position them in well-lighted spots. Those chores can be done in the early evening, when darkness has already engulfed the garden and I generally have at least a few minutes of available time.
This year my goal is to give the houseplants enough light so that the geraniums will bloom through the winter. I have a new, multi-directional lamp that should help with that. All I have to do is open the box and put it together. Because I have very little mechanical aptitude, this will take a chunk of time and have to be redone at least twice to accommodate the inevitable mistakes. Eventually though, there will be light.
I have made a note to myself to rotate all the plants regularly for even growth and light exposure. This is especially necessary if the primary light source is a window. If you are in that situation, don’t place plants too close to the window glass, which generally conducts the cold.
The plants will sulk, of course. They always do. Unless you have a very sophisticated set-up, and/or a greenhouse, even the best indoor light is not as bright as outdoor light. When I was a novice gardener, this sulking period used to scare me into herbicidal acts like overwatering and overfertilizing. Now I have learned that the only thing to apply during the sulking period is patience. Water when the top of the soil in each pot feels dry, except for water loving specimens that need more frequent applications. Placing your containerized specimens atop trays filled with water and pebbles helps compensate for dry winter air. Most tropicals and many other plants naturally slow their growth during the winter months, so stop fertilizing. Start again in March, so that growth can resume on schedule.
Inevitably during the houseplant return period, my holding area gets jammed. This is because the fall-planted bulbs are also arriving. It is always hard to choose between last summer’s geraniums and this fall’s Rembrandt tulips. All of them might as well be wearing signs saying, “Do something about me now!” Then, of course, there is yard cleanup. I really have to cut back the faded New England asters so the trick-or-treaters can get through to the front steps. I comfort myself with the fact that while I dally over the holiday cactus in my indoor holding area, the birds are dining on the aster seeds. The longer I delay in cutting back the asters, the better it is for those birds. It also means that next spring I will have hundreds more aster seedlings to grub out.
However, that is then and this is now. I have to focus on getting my indoor plant area organized, so that all the sulking will be over before Thanksgiving. I do not want the holiday dinner guests eyeballing curled leaves and sagging stems while they await the holiday turkey. Even busy gardeners have to keep up appearances.