overwintering questions

[Desirai]

okay so.. more questions! I have 09328963278236 plants in pots. Okay maybe not that many.. maybe only about 35. anyway, they are taking over the living room and I have even more that haven't come inside yet. My question is, since I don't have a greenhouse or anywhere to really overwinter them.. could I put them in a screened-in porch? They would still be subjected to the low temperatures (usually no lower than 20 f) but they won't be subjected to frost, rain, snow, or wind. Obviously my tropicals will stay in the house.

My plants include:
Hollyhocks
Morning glories
4o clocks
Petunias
Lantana
Cameo apple tree
sunflowers (courtesy of my birdseed, I had to save some!)


Or should I just throw them all out and start over in the spring? most of these seeds are just things that started really late and I'm not sure what to do with them.

[CharlieBear]

In the case of annual flowers start over next spring. The question I have about the apple is this, why is it in a pot and not in the ground. Most fruit trees have chilling hour requirements to set a decent crop. We generally only get down into the 20's at night here and most people who insist on having apple trees in pots leave them out well mulched all winter, unless they are in self watering pots, then the roots might rot over the winter, which killed two columner apple trees I am told.
Perennial flowers should be fine in the screened porch if they are mulched. Hope I covered everything.

[Desirai]

well the reason is because it's still very small, and I'm afraid if I plant it something will happen to it.

[rainbowgardener]

hollyhocks are very cold hardy. They are a popular perennial in Michigan where it gets much colder than where you are. Just leave them outside. Most hollyhocks are hardy down to zone 5, some even down to zone 3 (which is crazy cold!). You are probably in zone 8 or 9, where bigger numbers mean warmer climates (or actually less cold climates, the zone number only tells you how cold it gets in winter).