How to help your tropical plants survive the winter blues

Dreaming of a beach vacation? My guess is you’re picturing a palm tree. Fantasizing about life on a remote island? You’re probably envisioning a walk among birds of paradise, cannas and bananas. Nothing conjures up the feeling of the tropics like giant, lush-leaved plants, and if you live in the tropics or subtropics, you get to enjoy them year-round.

The rest of us have to buy them every year and treat them as annuals or, if we’re in the know, save them from year to year. After reading this, you’ll fall into the latter camp, saving money and making future summers at home feel like an exotic getaway.

Elephant ears cannas and caladiums

If you bought potted elephant ears (Colocasia), cannas or caladiums, bring the pots inside instead of kicking them to the curb. Place them near a sunny window, water often and fertilize occasionally with ordinary houseplant fertilizer diluted to half strength.

If they’re too big for the house or have been planted in the garden, leave them outdoors until the first frost turns their foliage brown, then cut plants down to 6 inches tall and dig them up.

Rinse and separate their “bulblet” roots and allow them to air dry thoroughly, then place them in peat moss in a box in which you’ve cut some holes for ventilation. Milk crates work well for storing large quantities. Place the box or crate in a cool, dark place like a crawl space or cellar.

Check on them about once a month and spritz them with water if they begin to shrivel, and discard any that start to rot. Plant outdoors and fertilize when the soil has warmed up in spring (around the time you’d plant tomatoes), or give them a head start by planting them indoors in potting mix a month earlier and setting them by your sunniest window or under grow lights, keeping the soil lightly moist.

Potted hibiscus and angel trumpets

Potted hibiscus and angel trumpets (Brugmansia) should also be brought indoors before the first frost and treated as houseplants by your sunniest window over winter. The plants will likely drop their leaves and may even look sickly, but they should bounce back when returned outdoors in spring.

If you don’t have room for the plants in your living space, you can induce dormancy by storing pots at 40-45°F, checking on them twice a month and watering very lightly when the soil feels dry at finger depth.

Place the plants in a warmer, sunnier spot, lightly prune and fertilize about a month before the danger of frost has passed, then move them back outdoors.

Banana plants

Potted banana plants should be cut down to soil level when the first frost browns their foliage. Store the containers in a dark spot at roughly 40-45°F. Inspect the soil monthly, watering very lightly only when it’s completely dry. Growth will resume in spring, but keep the plants indoors until the danger of frost has passed. Fertilize and resume regular watering.

Don’t cut back in-ground bananas in the fall. Just dig them up, contain their roots in a plastic trash bag, and store them as you would their potted counterparts. Cut them down to 6 inches in spring and plant them in the garden after the danger of frost has passed.

Then, put the money you’d otherwise spend on new plants toward a water feature, firepit or tropical drink ingredients. After all, it is always five o’clock somewhere, and from this year forward, somewhere will be your tropical backyard oasis.

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Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

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