Bring These 7 Tender Plants Indoors Before the First October Frost – to Help Them Survive the Winter

October can bring the first freezing nights of the year. It can be a death knell for tender plants that have been enjoying their life outdoors all summer long. This is easily avoidable, though. Before the frosts arrive, bring in these tender plants to protect them from harm.

Tropical and tender plants should be moved indoors well ahead of the first predicted frosts. But don’t assume you know when the frosts will hit – you know the old expression about assumptions. Keep an eye on the forecasts so you’re not caught off guard by a surprise frost that wipes out some of your most tender plants.

To protect the plants from frost, it is advisable to start moving these tender specimens sooner rather than later. Check the plant thoroughly for pests before bringing them indoors – you can treat them with insecticidal soap, available at Walmart, if required – and remove any dead, damaged, or diseased foliage. Here are seven tender plants you need to bring indoors before October frost strikes.

1. Citrus Trees

Growing citrus trees in pots is a fantastic way for people in milder climates to enjoy the fragrant foliage and fruits of lemon, lime, orange, and kumquat trees. An important part of caring for a citrus tree is bringing it indoors for the winter to protect it from damaging frost.

Once nighttime temperatures drop below 50°F, it is time to overwinter citrus trees. Some types of citrus can tolerate lower temperatures than others, but any hardiness is reduced in containers. Don’t take the risk and use 50°F as a safe marker.

Compact varieties can be grown as indoor trees during the colder months in a greenhouse, conservatory, or sunroom. They will be happy anywhere they can get at least five hours of sunlight daily and temperatures around 55-65°F.

Larger ones can spend the winter in a frost-free shed, garage, or basement. They do need light, so place them next to a window. A plant caddy with wheels (like this at Amazon) may be invaluable for moving sizeable trees and their containers.

2. Elephants Ears

Elephant ears are tropical plants that can be grown outdoors or as houseplants. They are grown for their stunning, heart-shaped foliage, which can add drama and structure to any space.

If your plants have spent the summer outdoors, you need to think about overwintering elephant ears early – tropical houseplants like these should be the first plants to protect against frost.

Bring potted plants indoors before the temperatures drop below 60°F, just to be safe. The plants can grow on a windowsill in front of a bright, sunny window. Take care not to overwater plants during the winter months, as their growth slows down. A soil moisture meter, like this one on Amazon, can help you know just when to water your plants.

If your elephant ear starts turning yellow over winter, it could be due to too much water or not enough light. A set of grow lights can be used to supplement the natural light levels.

3. Pelargoniums

There is a wealth of variety among pelargoniums. It is not just different flowers; the foliage comes in various colors, textures, and aromas. These popular tender plants, also known as tender geraniums and not to be confused with hardy geraniums, are not frost-hardy and are damaged by temperatures below 50°F.

Any pelargoniums in containers should be brought indoors and grown in a greenhouse or on a bright windowsill. Those grown as summer bedding can be lifted and potted up.

When you bring them in, it is best to prune the plants back by at least a third with sharp pruning shears (available at Burpee), and keep them somewhere bright and warm. Avoid putting them anywhere too warm, such as near radiators or heating vents.

Alternatively, you can overwinter them by taking pelargonium cuttings, as you’ll get identical plants. Take 3-4inch cuttings of firm growth, remove the leaves from the lower half, and put them in small pots filled with well-draining potting mix.

4. Tender Fuchsias

Tender fuchsias are bright, attractive plants that provide pops of color in containers or hanging baskets. There is a wide variety of flower shapes and colors to choose from, but tender fuchsias are not hardy and need protection from frost to stay alive.

There are two options for overwintering tender fuchsias. Firstly, they can be grown as houseplants. This involves placing them somewhere bright and warm indoors, but it may require grow lights (you can get a set of three full-spectrum LED plant lights on Wayfair) to ensure they have enough light to thrive over winter, along with regular misting to maintain a humid environment.

The other option is to keep them dormant over winter, which is the simplest of the two. To do this, prune the stems back by about half and keep them in a frost-free, dark, cool environment, such as a basement, garage, porch, or shed.

The soil will need little watering, but it does need to stay lightly moist to stop the roots from drying out. It is important to check on them regularly over winter.

5. Bougainvillea

These tropical climbers put on a bright summer show, but, unsurprisingly, they don’t like the cold. Bougainvillea are only hardy in zones 9-11 and will get damaged if temperatures drop below 30°F. If you live in a climate with frosts, it is better to grow bougainvillea in pots and overwinter the tender plant indoors.

Get ahead of the weather and overwinter bougainvillea before nighttime temperatures drop to 50°F. Before moving them, you should prune bougainvillea back to a manageable size for spending the next few months indoors.

It is easier to overwinter the climber as a dormant plant in a cool, frost-free, unheated greenhouse, conservatory, garage, or basement. The plant needs some light and watering to keep the roots from drying out.

6. Bird of Paradise

Strelitzia reginae, the bird of paradise, is a striking, exotic plant for containers, so it can be brought outdoors for summer to soak up the sun. When you grow bird of paradise in containers, it needs to come indoors in zones 9 and below.

Move the plant once nighttime temperatures drop below 55°F in the fall. Don’t wait too long, as a bird of paradise gets extremely stressed if it gets below 50°F. The best place to overwinter a bird of paradise is somewhere bright and warm, ideally with temperatures between 65°F and 75°F.

A conservatory or sunroom is ideal, but a south-facing window also works. The tropical plants need lots of light, even in winter. A full-spectrum grow light for 12-14 hours daily helps prevent yellowing leaves. A tall grow lamp like this on Amazon can be set 12-18 inches above the bird of paradise plant.

7. Tender Salvias

Tender types of salvias can be relied upon to provide bright displays of summer blooms to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to their nectar-rich flowers through late summer and early fall.

These plants hail from warmer climates and need to be brought into a protected place for winter, such as a frost-free greenhouse, conservatory, or bright windowsill. A frost can be enough to kill these tender plants, and they are also highly susceptible to rot when sitting in cold, wet soil.

If you don’t have space to grow salvias indoors over winter, the alternative is to take plant cuttings. Taking softwood cuttings in late summer (dipping the cut end in rooting hormone, like this at Walmart, helps to speed up rooting) or early fall gives you exact clones of the parent plants and can offer an insurance policy in case you lose any salvias over winter.

What to Shop

When overwintering plants indoors, there are some common mistakes to avoid. These include overwatering, not providing enough light, not putting plants near radiators, air conditioning, or underfloor heating, and not preparing them to live indoors. Rather than going straight from outside to inside, you need to acclimatize plants for a week or two beforehand. This will avoid shocking them, which can cause leaf loss.

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