Five patio plants to bring indoors before winter

Autumn has arrived! Here are six plants I've brought indoors to save them from the cold and wet of winter...

How do you keep tender container plants alive over winter? You bring them indoors of course. One of the upsides to the weather turning rather wintry is that it gives me a perfect excuse to fill parts of the house with plants.

There are several plants which I love growing but which are not hardy enough to withstand a Welsh winter. Some will suffer if it's too wet and some will be threatened by hard frosts. The answer is to grow them in pots, and this has a few benefits.

You can move them around whenever you feel like it. You can use them as a centre piece to decorate garden tables. You can potentially put them closer to head height where it's easier to detect their fragrance. And you can bring them inside to protect them from the winter.

Here's a run down of plants I've been growing on the patio but have brought indoors before the snow and ice arrive. 

Scented leaf pelargoniums

If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that I'm slightly addicted to scented leaf pelargoniums. They are amazing plants that never cease to amaze people with the way the fragrance of their leaves is so reminiscent of other things when you rub them. I've recently added the "Fragrans" (pine scented) and "Quercifolium" (cedarwood) varieties to my collection. They're easy to look after, withstand drought conditions fairly well and  need little feeding. They can be cut right down when they get a bit leggy and will regrow successfully. They originate from South Africa though, and aren't hardy in the UK. I recommend anyone grow them but when the weather turns cold they need to be brought inside. A cool greenhouse or conservatory is adequate, just to protect them from frost and from the amount of rain we get here in the West. I treat them as houseplants for 3 months, and every windowsill has one! A dry, light position is ideal but I always take some cuttings just in case! 

Pelargonium "Charity" - citrus scented leaves

Pelargonium crispum "Variegatum" - lemon scented leaves 

Pomegranate

Just the idea of growing a pomegranate sounds exotic doesn't it? Of course in places with a more suitable climate they'll become a tree and produce fruit. Instead, mine is a small patio plant in a pot but it's nonetheless satisfying to see it flower and produce embryonic fruits, even though there is never enough heat for them to develop.  They will lose their leaves but if you keep them frost free they will come back again next year.

Pomegranate - miniature version

Citrus

My little citrus is a Calamondin, which produces tiny orange fruit every so often. Before that, it has the purest white flowers which are beautifully fragrant. It's just coming into bud now. It can only manage outside during the warmest part of the year, and in winter needs to be dry and cool but definitely frost free. 

Citrus calamondin

Fruit scented sage

Like the pelargoniums, these particular salvias have leaves which when rubbed, have an amazing scent reminiscent of other fragrances. I grow one with leaves that smell strongly of pineapple - quite remarkably so - and one that smells of blackcurrant, which is more subtle. They can be treated the same way as the pelargoniums too - kept inside frost free, watered sparingly, and then cut back in spring to regrow.

Salvia elegans "Scarlet Pineapple"

Salvia microphylla - blackcurrant scented leaves

Brugmansia

Brugmansia, sometimes also known as Datura can grow into a tall shrub. It produces long flowers which give it the common name of "Angels Trumpets", lending it an exotic and statuesque look. The flowers are softly and delightfully scented and it is a fabulous pant to have on a patio near your seating area in a sunny spot. To have a chance to reach it's full potential after several years, it needs to spend the coldest months inside, with plenty of light, but not too much moisture.  

Brugmansia - Angel's Trumpets

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