Will this work??

[MicHome]

Where in Norther Michigan are you located? My folks have a place on Grand Traverse Bay, near Charlevoix....beautiful area!

I wonder if you could build a type of " cold frame " , and provide supplemental heat...this would allow for natural light. Just a thought.

We're about 30 miles from there, yes it is a beautiful area. We love it here. I moved everything into a 30 x 36 inch "pond" in the basement yesterday......Tonight is going into the 30's and I ran out of time. Hopefully everything will live through the winter. Our winters are too long here to leave them frozen over the winter.

The majority of your list are hardies and can be left outside to freeze.

Simply cut them down to nothing and ignore them. They'll come back.

As to the tropicals, you'll need to bring them indoors to prevent freezing.

We don't have normal winters like when we were in Pennsylvania. It gets down to minus 30 & sometimes even minus 40 and our winters here are at least a month longer and 2 zones colder.

 

[morewater]

Well, I live well north of you and what I posted originally holds true up here.

Hardy plants are just that. Hardy.

 

[Lisak1]

I'm going to agree with @morewater here - if you like bringing your plants in for winter, go ahead. But hardy plants don't care if it's minus 2 or minus 20. Hardy is hardy. And remember, the ice in your pond serves to insulate the plant roots. So minus 40 air temp doesn't mean the plants are exposed to that temperature. They are still being protected by the ice.

You did list some plants that would not survive - water hyacinth comes to mind - but you might find that a challenge to keep alive even indoors without sunlight and the warm temperatures they like. And for me it's not worth the effort to baby my tropicals all winter - I don't have a great place to overwinter plants. So it's easier to toss them and replace them in the spring. But that's a personal preference. Like I said, if you enjoy tending plants in the cold months, have at it!

 

[morewater]

I personally do not grow water hyacinth or water lettuce, but many of my clients do.

Come fall, those two get pitched along with the cut-down grasses, rushes and lily pads.

As water lettuce and water hyacinth are so cheap, if you want them again in the Spring, simply re-buy them.

 

[sissy]

I bartered mine .The lady wanted a new sink and faucet put in and I got the banana plants and now have to many .I wish I could ship one to you but not sure I have any small enough .

 

[budgenator]

Where in Norther Michigan are you located? My folks have a place on Grand Traverse Bay, near Charlevoix....beautiful area!

I wonder if you could build a type of " cold frame " , and provide supplemental heat...this would allow for natural light. Just a thought.

Sounds to me like MicHome is a Yooper and that is whole level or two more brutal winter than we Trolls living under the Bridge get. Callingcolleen1 probably has a better idea there, she's in Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada (zone 2/3).

 

[Tula]

Sounds to me like MicHome is a Yooper and that is whole level or two more brutal winter than we Trolls living under the Bridge get. Callingcolleen1 probably has a better idea there, she's in Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada (zone 2/3).

Very true! We lived in Duluth , MN, when I was young, a few blocks from Lake Superior....no comparison to the winters in northern MI. !

 

[MicHome]

I'm going to agree with @morewater here - if you like bringing your plants in for winter, go ahead. But hardy plants don't care if it's minus 2 or minus 20. Hardy is hardy. And remember, the ice in your pond serves to insulate the plant roots. So minus 40 air temp doesn't mean the plants are exposed to that temperature. They are still being protected by the ice.

You did list some plants that would not survive - water hyacinth comes to mind - but you might find that a challenge to keep alive even indoors without sunlight and the warm temperatures they like. And for me it's not worth the effort to baby my tropicals all winter - I don't have a great place to overwinter plants. So it's easier to toss them and replace them in the spring. But that's a personal preference. Like I said, if you enjoy tending plants in the cold months, have at it!

Thank you for a thoughtful post. I do want to overwinter them inside. Our summers are so short it takes forever for the plants to grow to flowering size. I lost EVERYTHING I left in the pond the first winter we were here. Small plants and no flowers just isn't what I have in mind when I picture my pond in June & July

 

[MicHome]

Sounds to me like MicHome is a Yooper and that is whole level or two more brutal winter than we Trolls living under the Bridge get. Callingcolleen1 probably has a better idea there, she's in Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada (zone 2/3).

Thank you for saying what I obviously wasn't getting across!!! All true!!