If you’ve enjoyed a long, colorful show of flowers from a tropical hibiscus throughout the growing season, and you can’t stand the idea of tossing it into the compost pile, it is possible to keep it cozy until it’s safe to put it back outdoors next year. In this article, I’m going to share some tips on overwintering hibiscus if you live in a colder climate.

Although caring for a hibiscus over the winter may seem daunting initially, you may even be able to keep your plants in bloom during exceptionally dreary and cold winter months. In part, it depends on where and how you decide to keep your plants.

Meet the tropical hibiscus

Not to be confused with the hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos) or the shrub known as rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) which can withstand some cold weather, tropical hibiscus plants hail from parts of Asia and the Pacific islands. As such, they need a warm climate in order to thrive year-round. If you live in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 9 though 11, you can treat these tropical plants like perennials. But for gardeners located in cold climates? You’ll need to grow these heat lovers as potted plants and keep them well away from freezing temperatures in the process.

Why overwinter your hibiscus

Overwintering hibiscus plants makes sense if you have a variety that’s difficult to replace or you’ve simply grown attached to your plants. You might also want to see just how large you can grow them or maybe you want to be able to get the earliest possible start in the spring. (As expensive as exotic plants can be, babying yours through the cold season could save you some money, too!)

There are two ways to overwinter hibiscus: You can keep your plants in a dormant state or bring them inside as actively growing houseplants.

Preparing a hibiscus for overwintering

Before moving your tropical hibiscus for indoor storage, check for signs of pests. After all, you don’t want to inadvertently bring bugs inside—especially if you’ll be keeping other houseplants nearby.

While your tropical hibiscus plants are still in pots outside and before the weather gets too cold, use your garden hose to hit plant leaves and stems with a stream of water. This should help to dislodge the worst of any aphids, spider mites, and most other types of insect infestations you may have. Follow this up with a close visual inspection and hand-pick any stragglers you see.

Overwintering hibiscus in a dormant state

Overwintering a hibiscus while it’s in a state of full dormancy is a good option if you want to keep your plant alive, but you don’t have enough room in the house or you’re not able to offer an adequate amount of light in order to keep it growing as a houseplant. In this case, if you have a cool dark place inside a garage, a basement, or an outbuilding that you can keep at 50 to 55°F (10 to 13°C), you can store your potted plant here for the winter. Just make sure to water it periodically, so that the plant’s roots don’t dry out.

Overwintering hibiscus as a houseplant

If you have the space and can provide the right growing conditions, you should definitely consider overwintering hibiscus indoors. Do you have an atrium, glassed-in porch, or other room that gets a lot of direct sun? Excellent! As long as you can position your plants away from temperature extremes—think cold drafts from doors, poorly insulated windows, or too much hot air from nearby heating vents—then they should be in good shape. When grown as a houseplant, your tropical hibiscus will do best in temperatures around 65 to 70°F (18 to 21°C.)

How to care for your hibiscus

Besides warm temps and access to sunlight, your hibiscus needs moisture. Not sure when to water? Feel the top couple of inches of soil. It should feel moist, but not sopping wet. Avoid letting it dry out completely between watering.

Tropical hibiscus houseplants don’t feed heavily in the winter, but you can give them an occasional boost by watering them with a little compost tea. (Feeding them will become much more important in early spring as they begin to grow new leaves and flower buds.)

Troubleshooting indoor hibiscus problems

• Yellowed or dropped leaves: Your hibiscus will likely start dropping leaves if there’s too much shade where you’ve positioned it. (This also naturally may occur as plants acclimate to life indoors.) If you’re concerned about light levels, you can always provide supplemental grow lighting.
• Whitefly, aphids, and other invaders: Keeping pests off of your overwintering hibiscus is important. If there are small amounts, you can hand-pick them off the plant. Use neem oil or insecticidal soap to control more serious infestations.
• The tips of the branches appear to be dying back: This is usually caused by a combination of overwatering and poor drainage. Make sure your plant pot and potting soil allow for adequate drainage.

What to do in the spring

As spring returns, your overwintering hibiscus should have a period of transition from its indoor protection to life outdoors. After all danger of frost has passed, bring your plant outside for an hour or two every day, gradually increasing this duration over the next few weeks.

And, to give your plant its best possible re-start, use clean, sharp pruners to remove particularly leggy areas (thereby encouraging tighter, bushier growth). You can also add a slow-release, potassium-rich liquid fertilizer to bolster new blooms.

Remember, by choosing to overwinter these tropical plants, you can get a head-start on spring, enjoy increasingly large plants, and save money since you won’t need to purchase new “replacement” hibiscus plants each year.

More overwintering advice

• Plants that go dormant, like figs and brugmansia
• Geraniums
• Tomato plants
• Pepper plants
• Cucamelons