Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Justin Hancock, Costa Farms garden guru. If you love tropical plants like this hibiscus but live in a cold winter climate you know that unfortunately it won't survive outdoors during the winter. But good news, you can bring hibiscus in and other tropical plants really easily. Here are my tips. First make sure you have a good spot indoors. Tropical plants like plenty of light. If you don't have enough light they will have spindly growth, they won't look very good and it may not be worth the effort. It's also important to make sure that your plants are protected drafts. Both hot and cold drafts like from heat registers or drafty windows can impact the health of your plant. Happily it's pretty easy moving them indoors. Here are my tips. Start by moving them to a shady spot outdoors for a couple of weeks. This really will help them get acclimated to your darker indoor conditions. After they've been outside in the shade for two or three weeks cut them back by about a third. Now this is important because the new growth that comes out after you trim your plant will be much better acclimated to your indoor conditions. You won't have nearly as many yellow leaves drop, your plant will be much healthier. Before first frost remove it from the shady spot indoors. Once you move it inside take care not to over water. You'll find that tropical plants use less water indoors than they do out. A good rule of thumb for watering is let the top inch of the soil dry out before you water again. The more humidity you can give your plant the better. And then just keep it, enjoy it and move it outside again after danger of frost has past in the spring.