"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
kayla afwt_hotmail.com@ wrote in
:


Well I guess I will leave the datura outside for the winter
and hope for some seedlings in the spring. The forsthysia
is a perennial which I am trying to keep living over the
winter. I'm in zone 5. The hybiscus is a tropical plant.
Thanks.

no, put the forsythia outside, in the ground (if just in a pot
it will freeze & die). forsythia do just fine in zone 5.
the datura is semi-tropical (zone 8 i think). it will not
survive outside over winter. i was just saying i won't grow
them as i consider them too poisonous for the limited beauty
of the flowers, but that's just my opinion.
the hibiscus should be fine, although it's quite likely to
drop leaves when you bring it indoors. if it's too big, you
can prune it. i wouldn't remove more than a third of it
though. in my experience, tropical hibiscus can be pretty
tough. i had one growing in my (old world) chamelion cage. it
was a 50 gallon fish tank with a maximum of 3" of soil on the
bottom. the hibiscus grew & thrived for over 10 years in
there, blooming every winter (well, it got buds. mostly Pooh
ate the buds before they opened, but every so often one would
make a huge red flower). i had to prune it to keep it fitting
in the tank, & it was under artificial lighting, but it lasted
until Pooh died. i killed it trying to get it into a regular
pot...
the datura & hibiscus will do lots better if you can get them
grow lights, or just a 2 bulb florescent fixture with one warm
white & one cool white bulbs. give them about 12 hours of
light.
lee

Right - Hibiscus is tough. A friend of mine was put here on earth to murder
plants, but no matter what she did to her hibiscus, she couldn't kill it.
How about 3 weeks in the hot sun with no water? Sure - why not. Then, 6
months in front of a heat vent with little or no water. In spring, she put
it outside, trimmed it right to the soil, and a month later, the plant was
rockin' and rollin'. Amazing.

I'm not so sure the artificial light is worthwhile, though. You can't come
close to duplicating sunlight without several thousand watts worth of bulbs.