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Proctor's Garden: How to save vulnerable plants

Many popular annuals can survive and even thrive in a sunny window.

DENVER — With colder weather closing in, make an effort to save vulnerable plants. Many popular annuals can survive and even thrive in a sunny window.

Your top priority should be the two plants most sensitive to frost, coleus and sweet potato vine. You can save the whole plant or take cuttings.

If you take cuttings, make them about six to eight inches long. Strip off the lower leaves — roots will form at the leaf nodes — and insert them in jars of water.

Eight to ten cuttings should fit in a jar, depending on how wide the mouth of the jar is. These should be placed on sunny windowsills. After the cuttings root, they can be potted.

For plants such as geraniums and begonias, dig the whole plant and repot it. A gallon pot will probably work. Trim them back because the disturbed roots will have a hard time supporting all that top growth.

Cut Whopper begonias back by a third, trim geraniums as needed and root those cutting in water or in soil. Soil is best. 

Make sure to dig and pot "filler" plants such as oxalis, ivy, spider plants, and ice plant.

Don't worry about dahlias, cannas or other summer bulbs such as gladiolus or pineapple lilies. Let them frost, but make sure you label them ahead of time. After the top growth has died back, dig and save the tubers or bulbs in a dark, cool place over winter. 

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