Cue the demo dust! After 5+ years of living in this house, we’re embarking on a renovation! Of course over the holidays (because we are nothing if not consistent). We’ve tackled some sizable projects over the last five years here, like adding a pool in 2021, gutting & rebuilding our kitchen in 2022, and replacing all of our windows & doors with hurricane grade ones two years ago… but this is the first time since we moved in that we’re removing walls and changing rooms. The chaos you see above is from early 2020, but actually some of those walls being open is a preview of the new view we’ll gain from our kitchen and living area downstairs! We are VERY EXCITED.
When the mornings turn chilly and frost threatens, it’s time to bring your non-cold-hardy plants indoors. In this video, Summer Rayne Oakesdemonstrates how she gathers her Aloes, Pelargoniums, Euphorbias, air plants, and more, refreshing containers with Espoma Organic Cactus Mix, and Espoma Organic Perlite to help them settle in for the winter months.
Here are six quick tips to help you do the same.
1. Bring Plants In Before the First Freeze
Any tender plant—succulents, tropicals, Pelargoniums, air plants—needs to move indoors once nighttime temperatures dip into the 30s and low 40s °F. Cold snaps can damage foliage fast.
2. Check for Pests and Outdoor Debris
Before carrying your plants inside, give them a quick inspection:
Look for ants or insects in the soil
Remove spent leaves
Trim away any mushy or damaged growth
This keeps your indoor environment clean and your plants stress-free.
3. Give Overgrown Plants a Gentle Trim
A light haircut helps plants transition into winter dormancy. Summer trims her Pelargoniums to remove dead growth and tidy the shape, making them easier to overwinter.
4. Refresh Soil With a Fresh Organic Potting Mix
After a full season outdoors, potting soil can become compacted, washed out by rain, or depleted of nutrients. Refreshing the top few inches—or fully repotting—gives plants the clean, breathable foundation they need to stay healthy indoors.
For most houseplants, reach for Espoma Organic All-Purpose Potting Mix. It’s rich, airy, and packed with organic ingredients that support strong roots through winter.
Summer uses Espoma Organic Cactus Mix for her succulents because they need faster drainage and extra airflow around their roots. This helps prevent rot during the cooler months when succulents naturally take up less water.
Adding a scoop of Espoma Organic Perlite boosts drainage even more—great for Aloes, Agaves, and Euphorbias heading into low-light, low-growth winter conditions.
5. Repot or Divide Crowded Succulents
Aloes and other succulents often outgrow their pots by fall. Take a cue from Summer and divide offsets or repot into fresh soil so each plant has room to breathe indoors.
6. Feed Indoor Plants Through Winter
Even during slower growth, indoor plants still appreciate gentle nourishment. Use a high-quality organic liquid fertilizer—like Espoma Organic Indoor! —to keep roots strong and foliage healthy all winter long.
A little effort goes a long way!
A little trimming, a pest check, and a refresh with Espoma Organic potting soils and a little liquid fertilizer is all it takes to help your plants thrive indoors this winter.
Every year, people ask us for theme ideas from my family’s annual Christmas gift exchange. We first mentioned this tradition on a podcast episode in 2016 and now, nearly a decade later, we’re putting the full, updated list in an easy-to-reference blog post. So if you or your family are feeling stuck or overwhelmed by your holiday shopping list, see why introducing a theme might do the trick!
Fall might feel like the end of the gardening season, but as Kaleb from Wyse Guide shows, it’s actually a perfect time to plant and bring in your favorite tropical plants for the winter months.
In this project, Kaleb refreshes the front of his home with hydrangeas, using Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus to support strong root growth, then replants a massive elephant ear and pots it up in Espoma Organic Potting Mix so he can enjoy it again next year.
Kaleb’s late fall gardening tips:
1. Plant for Roots, Not Blooms Kaleb takes advantage of fall’s warm soil and cool air to give hydrangeas time to establish. Adding Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus helps new shrubs settle in quickly and build the strong root systems that lead to better growth next spring.
2. Build Healthy Soil & Keep Watering Hydrangeas thrive in rich, well-draining soil, so Kaleb amends where needed and uses drip irrigation to keep moisture consistent on his sunny, south-facing porch. Even with drip, he checks soil weekly and waters during fall—and even winter warm-ups—so new roots never dry out.
3. Store Tropicals to Enjoy Them Again Instead of letting frost take his elephant ear, Kaleb trims it back and pots it into Espoma Organic All-Purpose Potting Mix. Over winter, it rests indoors with minimal watering, ready to return outdoors next season.
Even as the season slows, there’s still so much you can do to care for your garden. A little fall planting, some root-focused feeding, and thoughtful winter storage of warm-season plants can set you up for an even more beautiful spring.
They’re here, all in one post for you: our 2025 Holiday Gift Guides! They include everything from the things that we’re getting our own family & friends this year (from small businesses and Black-owned shops to big box stores) as well as things that we already own and love. Nothing has been gifted, nothing is sponsored, and they don’t know us from Adam – these are all just things we genuinely like. We arranged all of our gift ideas into the following three categories for you: Gift Ideas for Grown-Ups, Gift Ideas for Kids, and Gift Ideas that are $15 & Under.
Every time I go to Europe for a week with just one carry on (and a purse as my personal item) I get asked for a detailed rundown of how that’s possible. (There have been two times. That made it sound like I go every month.) But I’ve definitely worked out a packing method that allows me to travel lightly and have lots of outfit options that I love wearing.
Laura from Garden Answer brings a burst of fresh autumn color to the garden!She shares an update on her sunflowers, plants new boxwoods with Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus to help the roots establish naturally, and refreshes her fall containers with vibrant ornamental kale, rudbeckia, and pansies. Using Espoma Organic Potting Mix, Laura ensures every plant has the rich, healthy soil it needs to thrive this season.
with Summer Rayne Oakes
