While I was off footballing in Utah, we got down to around 40 F two mornings. All my tropical plants are still outside, including over 100 plumeria. When I returned home I found that only the Scott Pratt plants dropped leaves, and oddly enough, the leaf-drop was from the upper 1/3 of the plants, not the older, lower leaves. It appears that the Scott Pratt is far more cold sensitive than the other 15-20 varieties I have. Live and learn.

That's because they knew you were coming back and it kept them warm and fuzzy !

Glad to hear that all the plants were ok

I gotta start cleaning up my greenhouses and build my temporary (garage) greenhouse soon. "Move-in- days" is only a couple of weeks away (at most). I dread that chore.

My wife worked late the other day so I took the opportunity to move a good amount of the plumeria's in. Still have four or five of the larger ones to get in and then it will be bringing in cactus and daylillies - too much fun

I just spent the last three hours unpotting some of my largest plumeria (in 18-24" pots), removing the majority of the soil, and have stacked them under a large oak to dry out for a couple of weeks. They have all been cut back so that they are no more than 4-5' tall. I am literally forcing those large plants to go dormant. In a couple of weeks I will remove the remaining leaves, wash off what soil remains, and allow them to re-dry. Then I will bag them in heavy-duty, contractor plastic bags for the remainder of the fall and all winter. They will be bagged for about 4 months, no light, no moisture, and no soil. I will just keep them in an area that will stay above 60 F (probably a guest closet). It will take me another half day to complete this particular chore. I will probably bag up 2-3 dozen plants.

Here's an example of my un-potting a couple of plants in 18" pots. One has most of the soil removed and the other just got lifted from its pot.

I have 24 started from seed (1 - 2 feet tall) in my greenhouse that will be brought to the basement and kept under lights. They should go semi-dormant.

My 3 big guys (2 from DrDawg) I moved into the garage about 10 days ago. We had 2 nights in the 30s - 34 and 38. Got them in before that hit. They are dropping leaves something fierce. My biggest, a NOID, that I got as a rooted cutting in 2014, I have moved back onto the drive in front of the garage. I may end up keeping it in the back bedroom.

Ken - good luck with all the plants. Are you doing cuttings with the material you are cutting off? Those bagged ones IIRC stay in your indoor GH?

The Celadine from you (last fall) rotted while rooting and after recutting

David, remind me in the spring and I will replace that Celadine. I have lots, so its no big deal. I might even have a rooted one and that'll save you the rooting time.

I will put all those cuttings in 5 gal. buckets of coarse perlite, about 10 cutting per bucket, and overwinter them in the (garage) temporary greenhouse or one of the orchid greenhouses. A handful will actually root during this time. Most will root next spring/summer. Those that haven't rooted by spring will be bagged. I seem to have better/faster rooting using the bag method with moist sphagnum moss.

For those garlic-lovers, I just got my final box of garlic in, and it weighs a whopping 19 lbs. All (well most) will go in the ground tomorrow and Friday. I will have ten varieties that I have never planted before. I hope to plant 500-600 cloves total. 200 cloves are already in the ground.

Ken. Thanks but I don't need it. Guess I went to sleep in the middle of typing.

The Celadine from you (last fall) rotted while rooting and after recutting I got it to root just fine!
That was a first for me.

Oh, OK, David. Soooooooooo, you are limiting yourself to a single plant of a variety, huh? I need to learn that trick.

Missed this post Ken.

Oh my no. I have ~ 8 Celadine seedlings or something like that. I have 24 total seedlings so not limiting myself.

That's more like it, David. You'll soon have as many as I and then all hell breaks loose........where's the space?

Seriously. My stuff has to be brought in for 6 months or so. I already have 100s of tropicals and tenders that must be inside. WTH was I thinking?

And by next year I will have 27 rather large Plumeria

Ken at least you have a couple of zones on me. hehe

100 plumeria, drdawg. moving all of those ..... OMG!!! Thank god I live in a warm climate and my plumis are still putting out leaves.

The problem is, @kbuntu, those 100+ plumeria only represent approximately 1/10 of the tropical plants that I have to bring inside. I have over 400 orchids among those 1000+ plants.

ohh wow. Good for you @drdawg. I'm just starting out but I tell you I'm getting hooked day by day a little bit more.
I checked out your website. Do you sell seeds as well?

Not yet but I hope to have some available next spring/summer.

Well put me on your list

Thank all of you so much for your purchases, your encouragement, and your support, Barbara, Deb, Pam, and Susan.

This the time of year when I am usually preparing to get my plumeria under cover. Well, it's been a crazy busy month. My greenhouse is still not ready for winter guests. We have had a couple nights below 40 but only for a few hours. There have been no early freeze warnings. Looking at my Plumeria who still enjoy the sunny, near-80 days, they are slowly but surely going dormant. And a lightbulb goes off! It's a lot better for them to drop their leaves outside than making a mess inside the little greenhouse space. Am I wrong to allow a slow, natural dormancy free of frost? Or should I just cart them indoors and trim off the leaves? It's been in the mid 80's in the greenhouse.

I had not only those three dozen large plumeria stacked under the oak for the previous three weeks but also all my other larger, potted plumeria outside. The only plants I brought inside (10 days ago) were seedlings and newly rooted cuttings. Like you, we dipped into the lower 40's several times and touched 38 and 39 once. All those temperatures appeared to do was to kick those plants into dormant-mode. Everything has now been moved inside, since we had three mornings of freezing weather. Most of the leaves are still on all those plants (except those that were bagged).