Hi all,
I am not sure if I am posting this in the right forum or not but thought I'd take a "stab in the dark" and post here.
My oldest daughter give this plant to me for Mother's Day this yr, states she purchased it at Walmart.
Is it a bulb?
What do I want or have to do w/ it to "winterize" it?
Should I keep it in the pot or stick it in the ground before winter sets in?
Thanks in advance!!!
Shaw

Your Dipladenia (not a bulb) is a tropical plant. I suspect it would be a houseplant in your area.

If you go to the plant database and type Mandevilla, you'll see there are many different colors of your lovely plant. You should know it's a vine and likes to climb. Definitely don't leave it outside once the weather turns cool.

Right on with Hetty and Sandi, Shaw. This is a tropical plant and will die for sure if you leave it outside through a Wisconsin winter. Some Dipladenias (aka Mandevillas) keep a shrubby form, and others, as Sandi said, start sending up twining sprouts and become a vine. You could give it a couple of stakes or a little trellis next summer if you want it to climb, or just prune the long tendrils halfway back to make it branch and stay smaller, like a shrub.

I'd pot it up into a nice new pot with fresh potting soil, and once the nights are consistently below about 50deg. bring it in to the house, and put it near a cool, sunny window. Here in Florida they flourish in full sunlight, so it needs a lot of light indoors. If you keep it rather cool through the winter it will basically go dormant and won't grow huge and take over your house. You'll have it at a nice size next spring once the nights are warm again. It may not bloom through the winter, but will keep its nice shiny dark green foliage for you to enjoy.

Fertilize lightly - half strength - maybe every two weeks and water deeply twice a week. It can take lots of water in summer when the weather's hot, but through cool weather - indoor conditions are "cool" for it unless you keep your house really warm - it won't be growing much so if you start to see the leaves browning on the ends, cut back on the fert and water for a while. Increase fertilizer when you take it outside for the summer and it will bloom wonderfully for you. It's a beauty!

Oh, also it really likes humidity, so if you have a spray bottle of water sitting near it, and give it a spritz whenever you pass by it will thank you. Don't put it near a heat register, for sure! Too dry.

Thanks so much for the responses ladies!!!
I am not a real “house plant” type of person but I may bring it inside so I don’t lose it.
Or, I may have my daughter “babysit” it for the winter.
Also, I could probably put it in the basement for the winter as our basement is heated and the sun comes through the windows nicely down there too.
I just get a bit nervous bringing outdoor plants (bugs) into a closed house.
I think that crazy notion is because of my medical background.
I’ve still got a bit of time to decide.

I visited the Mandevilla database area but I can’t figure out exactly what color mine is because of the several different pink colors it contains.
Upon visiting I was marveled by all of the pretty colors.

I’d read on the internet that it was a vine so I may trellis it or might even keep it shrubby and trim the twining sprouts.
Such decisions a girl’s got to be making.

Again, thanks much to you all.

Shaw, you know having plant in the house is healthy. They clean the toxins out of the air you breath indoors. I tell my family we have the healthiest clean air house on the block.

If you are afraid of bugs you can push the plant under water in a bucket for 15 minutes and if there is anything in the soil it will come out. Let it drain and bring the plant in for the winter and let it clean the air in your house.

Hi Cinta,
I'd heard that before and I used to have house plants.
I just got into the habit of not having them @ home as when I worked in the hospital (I now work in the clinic) when working on the PM and night shifts we would have to take all of the plants and cut flowers out of our patient's rooms so the plants would not "steal" all of the oxygen in the air so the patient's could breath better @ night.
I know it's silly, some big wig prbly did a study and the sisters who ran the hospital @ that time insisted w/ do it.
We'd even get reprimanded if they came around and we had not taken them out.
I prbly should start having flowers in the house again, I wonder though, if I do will they dust and vaccum for me? LOL:hurray:
Sometimes I just crack myself up.
Have a good weekend!

Shaw, in order to not bring in bugs, re-pot just before bringing it indoors. Some of the old soil will remain, but if you shake it off to loosen up the root ball, and add new sterile soil, you should be fine. If you're still worried, a douse with some soapy water should kill off any remaining bugs in the soil. Spray the plant's leaves with soapy water, too. It will clean and shine them up. About 1/2tsp. dish soap to a quart of water is plenty.

I have no plants in my house for that very reason - the dark, moist environment in flower pots is ideal for roaches to hide in. My Vanda orchids will have to come in for the winter, but they are bare-root.

But my garden goes year 'round here, so I don't need them. We have the windows open most days in winter so all the fresh air and oxygen gets into the house. I believe in what Cinta says about plants cleaning the air and producing oxygen indoors in winter up north, where you are heating and re-circulating your air all winter. If you want your plant to produce oxygen at night all you need is a grow light. Fluorescent lights also make plants produce oxygen, so your sisters at the hospital certainly were out to lunch on that.

My mother had house plants and I grew up with plants in the house. I can not remember not having at least one house plants. It would be like someone living without furniture.

I have over 100 houseplants that go outside in the summer and come in the house in the winter. I do not water much. It is hard for me to water houseplants so I do not keep them moist. They barely get a sip once a month.

I have said many times here on many post....I have never had a bug problem. I think there are a few things for that....One is I do not bring them inside until the temps are going into the 30s at night. Every plant gets a bath with peroxide and a drop of alcohol. Then they are showered with the hose. Last I do not have forced air heating. I have a boiler system heat which is a moist heat and not a forced air drying heat.

I have two Dipladenias, and they are about the only plants in my garden that I've never seen a bug on.

We have a LOT of bugs (and mosquito's) here in Florida! The bugs that I despise the most are Palmetto Bugs .... GIANT cockroaches that can fly ... they are really gross! I've lived in Florida for 46+ years and I have lots of plants inside the house but I don't have bugs in my house; before I bring any plant inside I hose off every speck of soil and repot it in fresh potting medium. I love having lots of the little lizards around because they eat the bugs, even the huge ones! Little lizards are my friends.

It's fun and I thoroughly enjoy reading ALL of your comments and suggestions and, I thank you all for them!
I may perhaps try them and I might even end up having a tiny bit of a green hue added to my brown thumb.

That one will remain mostly shrub like, it was formerly(IMO, appropriatly) known as a dipladenia, they are all considered mandevilla now...
Dips have small thicker shiny leaves, they overwinter just fine inside!
Mandes have larger thin quilted leaves and scramble up and around anything! Including you if you fell asleep too near it!
They are generally much less reliable indoors!

The only pest bug that feeds on em is mealy bugs, that I've seen, thrips and whiteflies can get in Mandes too but rarely on the slick leaves of dips...

I enjoy the rare bug that comes in with my tropicals. Except the pill bugs! They can just roly poly right the hell on!
Seriously, they can seriously damage soft fleshy plants like cacti and some tropicals, not your plant so much... Keep pots outta the grass and they are much less of a problem!

Wow, some really interesting info @Swayback thanks soooo much for sharing it w/ me/us.
I'll be bringing this lil' beauty in for the winter even tho I hate bugs... but who doesn't.