Winter in Georgia
OK, so its fall, time to start thinking about wintering things. I'm in zone 8, north suburbs of Atlanta Georgia. I live in an apartment with a covered west facing deck, so everything is in containers.
Currently on the deck is:
1 very happy, sprawling, blooming ... Swedish Ivy. I'm baffled as to why its happy but its in full glory and content where it is.
1 young "jade" plant. I got a new neighbor and was admiring one of her plants and she gave me a starter from what she calls a jade plant. It kinda looks like a small juicy tree. LOL. My youngster is doing fine it seems at this point.
1 young porthos plant. Also seems to be content for now.
1 established lavender plant. I have, of course, forgotten the variety at the moment.
1 planter full of catnip.
OK, that being said, I've never done a container garden before. So I'm not sure if I should be leaving these plants out on the deck or bring them in, and if I do bring them in, when do I do so? I do have the cat issue if I bring them in (the catnip would be demolished LOL).
Can I mulch container plants? Would it be OK to just bring them in on our rather few below freezing days? I do bring them in to the bathroom (windowless, but is only room that I can securely make cat-free) during times of "severe weather" (ie: potential tornados) because weather seems to like to hit from the west here, so I could do that for the below freezing days.
Thanks!
PS: For those that remember, I have the office African Violet and its perking up and looking good, I may risk re-potting it into something more appropriate (it needs the pebble tray humidity boost) before the end of the year.
Currently on the deck is:
1 very happy, sprawling, blooming ... Swedish Ivy. I'm baffled as to why its happy but its in full glory and content where it is.
1 young "jade" plant. I got a new neighbor and was admiring one of her plants and she gave me a starter from what she calls a jade plant. It kinda looks like a small juicy tree. LOL. My youngster is doing fine it seems at this point.
1 young porthos plant. Also seems to be content for now.
1 established lavender plant. I have, of course, forgotten the variety at the moment.
1 planter full of catnip.
OK, that being said, I've never done a container garden before. So I'm not sure if I should be leaving these plants out on the deck or bring them in, and if I do bring them in, when do I do so? I do have the cat issue if I bring them in (the catnip would be demolished LOL).
Can I mulch container plants? Would it be OK to just bring them in on our rather few below freezing days? I do bring them in to the bathroom (windowless, but is only room that I can securely make cat-free) during times of "severe weather" (ie: potential tornados) because weather seems to like to hit from the west here, so I could do that for the below freezing days.
Thanks!
PS: For those that remember, I have the office African Violet and its perking up and looking good, I may risk re-potting it into something more appropriate (it needs the pebble tray humidity boost) before the end of the year.