Annuals, general articles, cutting gardens

This page covers annual flowers and those flowers we generally grow as annuals in the north which are really frost tender perennials.  For some readers flowers like snapdragons or salvia may return for several years as some plants can overwinter in mild climates or unusual winters.   In these articles bi-annuals, flowers with a two year life cycle are also mentioned.  And some annual flowers re-seed in the garden so you will have them each year without having to plant them again.

This page features general articles on annuals and tender perennials.  Specific plant profiles have separate pages.  Go back to the home page to find them.

An Introduction to Annuals

Petunia 'Cherry Cha Ching'

Gardeners use annuals for a splash of summer color in flower beds, for cutting flowers and in container gardens.   Many new annuals and tender perennials are coming on the market so you don’t have to stick to the same old boring petunias.  And some old fashioned cottage garden annuals are getting a make-over by plant breeders to introduce more disease resistant and longer flowering plants.   The beauty of annuals is they are generally inexpensive, you can try new things and if you don’t like them, you replace them with something else next year.

Annuals are flowers that complete their growing cycle, from seed to seed in one year.  Many of the flowers we know and love are true annual flowers, including marigolds, zinnias and sunflowers Other flowers we call annuals are actually tender perennials that would continue growing if they weren’t killed by frost.  Tender perennials that we treat as annuals include geraniums, (pelargonium), petunias, impatiens, begonias, and coleus. These tender perennials are usually treated as annuals; although some can be over wintered inside.  

Growing annuals from seed

Many annuals can be grown by directly sowing the seed in the ground.  They grow so quickly that you will have blooms in a few weeks.  You can get a great range of annual plants this way for very little money.  Some of the annuals need to be started inside a few weeks before your last frost for earlier flowers.

Each variety of seed needs different conditions to get growing and off to a good start.  Follow the package instructions for sowing seed.  When annual seeds are sown inside you should always use a sterile seed starting mix and clean containers.  This helps prevent dampening off, a fungal disease that kills seedlings.

Buying annual plants

Many gardeners choose to buy annual plants from a garden center.  Annuals are now available for a much longer period of time, so you can buy them to replace plants that have finished blooming, or to make a new container garden later in the summer.

In the spring many annuals are sold in cell packs, in groups of four or six.  These are the plants most likely to become stressed by their confined conditions.  The best annuals in cell packs will be short and stocky, with dark green foliage.  We all like instant color, but avoid annuals in cell packs that are already in full bloom.  These are often stressed and don’t adjust well to garden conditions.

Slide one of the annuals in the cell pack out of its pot to look at the root system.  Healthy roots are white or pale yellow.  The roots will generally fill the cell pot but if they are coming out of the bottom the annual has sat there a while and may be stressed. 

Annuals planted in larger square or round pots have more room for their root system and are the best plants to buy later in the garden season.  They may be blooming but if they have been well cared for, will be less stressed than plants in cell packs.

Planting and caring for annuals in the garden

Many annual flowers are sensitive to frost and will die or be stunted if a frost hits them.  If you plant them too early, you’ll need to cover them if a frost threatens.  Stores may have them out on the shelves, but remember the last frost in Michigan is generally in mid-May in the southern counties and the end of May in mid-Michigan and the thumb area.

If you simply had to buy annuals already blooming in cell packs pinch off the flowers before you plant them.  They will set new flowers soon enough and will have time to get their roots established before using energy to flower. 

Have you ever cleaned up the garden in the fall and pulled those annual flowers out of the ground complete with little square root ball that they came out of the cell pack with?  Those plants never rooted properly and couldn’t reach their full potential.   Prepare your planting spot by loosening the soil and removing any weeds or rocks.  Work a little slow release flower fertilizer into the planting area according to label directions.

As you take each annual plant out of the cell pack or pot look at the root system.  If there is a wad of roots wound up at the bottom gently pinch off the very bottom of the root ball.  Then lightly squeeze the root ball in your hand to loosen the sides and slightly flare out the roots as you plant the annual.  This gets the roots moving out into the soil, instead of continuing to wrap around in the hole.

Water your annuals well after planting.  Annuals in containers may have to be watered twice a day in hot sunny weather.  Most types of annuals need regular watering to bloom well.  Annuals use a lot of energy producing all those flowers and benefit from a dose of slow release fertilizer every six weeks or other regular fertilization.

Annuals bloom so they can reproduce.   When flowers get pollinated and set seeds it sends a signal to the plant that its job is done and it can die.  That is why it’s important to remove flowers as they wilt, before the seed they are trying to make gets very big.  This is called dead heading.  Some newer varieties of annuals are bred to ignore this signal and dead heading isn’t as important.  But it still makes the plants look better to remove dead flowers when you can.

If annuals stop blooming and get lanky and straggly looking later in the season, try something drastic.  Chop them off about six inches from the ground.  Water well and in a couple weeks they will usually be blooming again.  You may want to do this every other plant or randomly so all the plants don’t rest at the same time.

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Direct seeding of annuals in the garden

If you are a frugal gardener who wants masses of annual flowers for color or for cutting, you’ll be happy to know that many annuals can be directly seeded in your Michigan garden and will bloom and provide color for you through much of the summer.  With a little care a small packet of seeds can produce dozens, if not hundreds of flowers for you.

Most flowers need to be started after the danger of frost is passed.  Some can be started a little earlier if the soil is warm.  In Michigan, in the area around Detroit, the last expected frost date is mid-May.  In the northern suburbs it’s the end of May.

Flowers that bloom well when directly seeded in the garden are marigolds, zinnias, calendula, cosmos, tithonia, sweet alyssum, morning glories, moon flowers, annual asters, nasturtiums, sunflowers, statice, bachelors buttons, strawflowers, annual baby’s breath, amaranth, larkspur, four o’clocks, and stock.   Pansies and violas can be seeded in the garden but generally won’t bloom until cooler weather in the fall.  

Calendula

Some common annuals that people plant in their yards and containers every year such as geraniums, impatiens, begonias and petunias take a long time to bloom and should be started indoors early.

Sweet William and hollyhocks are bi-annuals that can be seeded in the garden.  They will make a rosette of leaves the first year and bloom the second year.

Getting the soil ready

Most annuals need full sun.  Prepare the soil in a sunny place by tilling it and removing grass roots and rocks, or use the lasagna method of gardening.  In this method you scalp any vegetation in the planned flower bed with your mower, add a thick layer of newspaper on top of the soil and then a 6-8 inch layer of potting soil or compost on top of that.

If you have never gardened in the area you may want to have your soil tested first to see what the soil pH is and what nutrients you may need.  You can have your soil tested at your county Extension office.  Call them for directions on how to do the sampling.  Do it early in the spring and you’ll get your results back faster than if you wait until the rush is on.  Most annuals are not too fussy about soil conditions but a soil test gives you a baseline and helps diagnose problems if you have them.

Annuals are heavy feeders and need fertilization to keep flowering all summer.  Before planting work a slow release fertilizer into the soil according to the label directions.  Even though your soil test may indicate good soil fertility, annuals are greedy and will probably exhaust some nutrients.

Planting

Read your seed package for how far apart to space plants in the row and how far apart rows should be.  If plants come up too thickly you’ll need to thin them.  The thinned plants can be planted somewhere else if you are careful.  Don’t crowd seedlings.  When they are small the bed may not look full but if they get large and are crowded they are more likely to suffer from disease and not bloom well.

Some seeds like morning glory and moonflower are hard to get to germinate because they have hard seed coats.  Soak a few paper towels in warm water and put a layer in a shallow pan.   Arrange the seeds so they aren’t touching each other on the toweling.  Cover with another damp towel and cover the pan with clear plastic. 

Place the pan in a warm place but not in direct sun.  In just a few days the seeds should have swollen and began to germinate.  You can then plant them in the garden.  If they stick to the paper towel pull off a piece of it with each seed, rather than pull them out of the towel.  Plant them with the piece of towel, but make sure its completely covered with soil.   It will dissolve quickly in the soil.

Lightly cover the newly planted seeds with soil and water the seeded area gently.  If the weather is dry water the seeded area every few days.  Be careful to use something on the hose that makes a fine spray so the seeds don’t get washed around.  

Care of annuals

If there is less than an inch of rain every week, water your annuals.  Most annuals need more water than perennials.  If you have sandy soil and it’s very hot your plantings may need additional watering. 

Annuals have few disease and insect pests.  If they do develop problems it will probably be from the Japanese beetle or other insect pest.  These can be managed with pesticides or hand picked off the plants. If you use a pesticide read and follow the label directions carefully. 

If the annual flower plants start looking a little yellow in midsummer and blooming slows down, they may need additional fertilizer.  Use a liquid fertilizer for flowering plants prepared according to label directions to give them a boost.  Heat can also slow the bloom of some flowers, but they’ll re-bound in cooler weather.   Annuals in containers need liquid fertilization about every 10 days.

Keep the weeds out of the flower bed.  If you keep them pulled out while the plants are small, they will soon out compete the weeds and you won’t need to weed as often.  Weeds not only look bad, they rob plants of nutrients and water and can spread disease.

Annual flowers need to be kept dead headed.  This means picking off the flowers as they fade.  If too many flowers set seed the plants will quit blooming.   After frost has killed them pull them from the garden and compost them.

Annuals are great for color in the garden and for getting your children interested in gardening.   They are wonderful for keeping the house full of flowers.  Annuals deserve a place in every garden.

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Annual flowers to plant while it’s still cool

Every spring a gardeners thoughts turn to planting, often long before it’s safe to actually plant flowers outside, especially here in Michigan.  Even with spring flowering bulbs doing their best to lift our spirits, the flower beds and pots still look bare and lifeless.  The garden stores, after all, are already filled with beautiful flowers.  You can go ahead and take a chance, which some garden stores seem to encourage; planting annual flowers that will quickly succumb to spring frosts or you can choose some cold hardy annual plants to add color while you wait for the weather to warm.

Pansies, violas, snapdragons and diascia are early flowering annuals that can take a bit of cold weather.  They come in a multitude of colors and will add pizzazz to those dreary pots and beds.  Most garden stores will have these plants available in early spring.  They can be planted outside once the soil warms to about 40 degrees.   Light frosts and even slightly below freezing nights won’t hurt them.

You can plant the cold hardy annuals directly in the ground but since most of them slow down bloom and begin to look straggly when the weather gets hot, it may be better to put them in pots.  Sink the pots into flower beds or larger planters where you want some color.    Be careful not to dig into any slow to emerge perennial plants in your garden.

Pansies

When the weather is warm enough to plant warm weather annuals and the cool weather annuals start to fade, remove the cool weather annuals in their pots.  Cut them back to 2-3 inches, place the pots in a partly shady holding location and keep them watered.  If you remember to water them through summer’s heat they can be put back into the garden as the weather cools in the fall and help you extend the blooming season at the other end of summer.

Pansies and violas greatly benefit from having faded flowers removed before they set seed.  This keeps them flowering longer.  They do tend to stop blooming when the weather gets hot. In cooler summers diascia and snapdragons may bloom all season.  If you planted these flowers in the ground you may want to cut them back to about half their size in July.  This will make them more vigorous and larger blooming in the fall.

When you plant cool season annuals add a little slow release fertilizer for flowering plants to the soil.  If you want to have optimal bloom in fall, fertilize again in late July.  If spring proves to be a dry one in your area make sure you keep the early annuals watered well.

Pansies, violas and snapdragons have been known to re-appear in the spring after mild winters or when they are in a protected spot.  Some people are able to get several years of bloom from them.  They sometimes spread by seeding themselves, especially violas.

If you planted cool weather annuals and really cold weather is predicted, temperatures below 30 degrees for example, you may want to cover your plants with newspapers, old sheets or floating row covers.  Don’t use plastic, it transfers cold right to the plants that touch it.  Make sure to remove the covers promptly in the morning.  If heavy snow is predicted your plants still may survive- if you place cardboard boxes or sturdy plastic pots over them before the snow falls.

How do you know when it’s time to plant other bedding plants? The colorful geraniums, petunias, begonias and other things?  In Michigan we can have frost right into the first part of June.  When the lilacs bloom in your area take a look at the weather forecast for the coming week and if no cold snaps are predicted, plant away.  Do keep some row cover or old sheets around in case Mother Nature pulls out a late frost.

So go ahead and make that trip to the garden center, even while it’s still chilly outside.   You can help your spring gardening fever by planting some cool weather annuals.

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Cutting Gardens

Note this article includes bulbs and perennials as suitable plants for cutting gardens.

If you love to add fresh flowers to your Michigan home or bring bouquets to friends why not start a cutting garden?  You can just cut flowers from your regular flower beds if you have an abundance of flowers but you are often torn between cutting blooms for inside or leaving them to make the best display in the garden.  If you have a cutting garden, a garden solely designed to take flowers from, you won’t have those hard decisions.

Cutting gardens can include plants that look good in the vase, but may be hard to integrate in landscape beds and borders.  Gladiolus are an example, they don’t blend well in most mixed beds.   And when you cut the glad flower there is little left to lend interest in the garden.  Plants that have a straggly growth habit, plants that require extra care like tea roses, plants that don’t suit your landscape theme, and plants with flower colors that clash with flowers in your landscape beds are good choices for growing in a cutting garden.

Location for a cutting garden

In order to grow the largest variety of flowers choose a location in full sun.  The soil should be tested if there has never been a garden there and amended if necessary.   Most flowers want a well drained area.

Your cutting garden is best in a spot where it is out of public view.  If you use a lot of flowers from it, which is the point of a cutting bed, it won’t always look as nice as a bed designed to be seen.  A spot behind the garage or by the vegetable garden may work or you may want to plant behind a screen of some sort.

You may want to have separate areas within your cutting garden for perennial plants and annual plants and tender bulbs.  That way when you are digging dahlias out for winter storage or planting zinnias in the spring, you won’t disturb the perennial plants.

Plant selection for cutting gardens

Think of the plants that you like to use in flower arrangements and choose those varieties, but don’t limit yourself.  It’s always fun to try different things.   Plants that bloom prolifically, plants that have sturdy stems for cutting, and plants that are quick and easy to grow make great cutting plants.  Always try to plant a good selection of fragrant plants, for bouquets that smell as good as they look.

Summer or tender bulbs have some good candidates for cutting gardens.  Gladiolus and dahlias are two common ones that come in a wide range of colors and flower forms.  They can be dug up and stored after frost in the fall or treated like annuals and discarded.  Other bulbs to try are tuberose, and calla lilies.

Perennial bulbs make great cutting garden candidates.  You don’t have to worry about the dying foliage making the garden look bad or clashing colors.   Go wild with tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, alliums, Asiatic, trumpet, and oriental lilies.  Bearded and Siberian iris are also great.  Try to choose several varieties that bloom at different times to extend your harvest.

Daisy-like perennials are cutting garden and bouquet favorites.  These include Shasta daisies, heliopsis, gaillardia, coreopsis and echinacea.   Chrysanthemums will extend the harvest into fall.

Other good cutting garden perennials include lavender, Russian sage, phlox, ornamental oreganos, Cupids dart, hardy asters, Bee Balm, hydrangea and goldenrod.  Don’t forget tiny flowers for tiny nosegay bouquets like lily of the valley, pansies and violets.

Annual flowers, those that live just one year, offer many great choices for cutting gardens.  Be picky about varieties; look for ones with sturdy stems and disease resistance.  Good choices are zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos, annual asters, cornflowers, snapdragons, salvia, statice, cleome, celosia and calendula.

If you love cut roses you may want to use tea roses as annuals in the cutting garden.  Start with top size potted or bare root tea type roses, plant and care for them well all summer and you will be rewarded with tons of blooms.  If they come back next year it’s a bonus.    Hardy shrub or landscape roses have a different type of flower shape but still can look nice in arrangements and will be more likely to over winter without extensive care.

Cutting garden care

Just because it’s out of sight doesn’t mean it should be out of mind.  Make sure you can get water to the cutting garden if it’s dry.  Fertilize perennial flowers in the spring when they first begin growing with a slow release fertilizer formulated for flowers.  Annuals in the cutting garden require fertilization when planting and about every 6 weeks until frost.

Keep your garden weeded, weeds encourage disease and insect problems and compete for food and water with your desired cutting garden plants.  If you aren’t using all of the flowers for cutting, keep flowers picked off the plants as they fade.  This encourages the plant to keep blooming.  Keep track of what varieties did well for you and what didn’t so you’ll know what to buy next year.

When you have a cutting garden it’s easy to be generous with its bounty.  Almost everyone likes flowers and keeping the flowers cut is good for the plants. Bees and butterflies can enjoy the flowers until you pick them.  And you won’t feel like you are leaving a big bare spot like you do might when cutting from your landscape beds.  No more indecision- cut away!

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Five best annual flowers to grow from seed

Annual flowers live for one year.  Many modern gardeners don’t want to bother with the ones that generally are started from seed, but instead buy things like petunias to fill in spots in the garden that need color.  You can buy some of the annual flowers on this list in garden stores in the spring too, but these plants are easy to start from seed and provide an economical way to fill up those bare garden areas.  All of these plants in the list can be sown directly in the garden where you want them to grow.  They grow quickly and will bloom in only a few weeks.  All of these plants prefer full sun locations.

Calendula

This lovely flower will get you started in the spring as it can be sown outside very early and likes to bloom when things are still cool.  If you are lucky you’ll also get an encore performance in the fall.

Calendula comes in shades of yellow, orange, and sometimes pink.  The flowers are daisy-like.  Plants grow about 18 inches tall, with a sprawling habit.  Calendula flowers are edible and were once used to color butter as the petals lend a yellow dye to food products. Cheerful and pretty they are liked by bees and butterflies also.

You can plant the seeds of calendula where they are to grow as soon as the soil is thawed and workable.  Or you can start the seeds inside about 8 weeks before your average last frost and put the plants out when the soil is thawed and workable, and only light frosts are predicted – about a month from your predicted last frost chance.

Calendula may go dormant and stop blooming if the weather gets hot and dry.  You can either remove the plants to make way for summer bloomers or let them sulk until fall when they will spring back and keep blooming until a hard freeze.

Cleome

Cleome is often called spider flower.  This tall and graceful flower looks good in masses at the back of flower beds.  It lends an airy elegance to large pots also.  The foliage is attactive and the flowers are arranged in circular clusters.  Each flower has a long slender tendril which accounts for the spider name.  Cleome comes in white, lavender, purple and pink shades.

Sow cleome seeds where they are to grow after the soil has warmed – about 2 weeks before your last predicted frost. Or start plants inside 4-6 weeks before the last frost.  Cleome shoots up quickly and in good soil can get 4 feet high or more.   The plants begin blooming about 6 weeks after they sprout and will bloom continuously until frost.  One thing about cleome that puts some people off is the smell of the foliage, which many describe as cat pee smell.  It’s only notable if you brush or crush the foliage and you won’t smell it if you are just admiring the tall, beautiful flowers.

Cleome plants are prolific seeders and from one planting of cleome you may have plants for many years, without having to plant them again!  If you don’t want them to re-seed themselves you can cut the narrow seed pods off as they form.  Don’t cut the bloom stalk as the plant keeps getting taller and putting out more flowers at the top.

Cosmos

Cosmos is a versatile and lovely garden flower and makes a great cut flower too.  The foliage of the 3-4 feet tall plants is light and ferny looking.  The flowers are daisy-like and come in just about any color from white to scarlet except true blue. There are varieties with double flowers and flowers that have rolled, quill style petals.  Cosmos looks good in the back of the border and coming up through other tall flowers.  In good soil the plants can be a little floppy and benefit from stakes or being supported by other plants.

Cosmos is sown where it is to grow when the soil is warm, about 2 weeks before your last predicted frost.  Or like the other flowers mentioned you can start it inside about 6 weeks before the last frost.  They will start blooming about 6 weeks after sprouting and bloom until a hard frost. Cosmos will sometimes come back from seed in the area you planted it also.

Marigolds

Marigolds are common at garden centers in the spring but this plant is so easy to grow from seed it’s often used as a children’s garden project. If you want lots of marigolds the economical way to grow them is from seed. By choosing seed you can often grow varieties you won’t find as plants in stores.  Plant the seeds where you want them to grow around the time of your last predicted frost or inside 6 weeks earlier.  The small varieties may be in bloom only a month after planting and the larger varieties take 6-8 weeks.  Marigolds bloom all summer until a hard frost.

There are tall, short and intermediate varieties of marigolds.  There are double and single flowered varieties and small one inch flowers and huge fluffy 6 inch flowers.  Marigolds come in shades of yellow, orange and red.  There are some marigolds now that are a very pale yellow that looks white.  Marigolds are used as short border edging plants, in containers, and as tall garden plants for color.  It’s very common to plant marigolds among garden vegetables for a bit of color, to attract pollinators and some people believe the marigolds deter harmful insects, although there’s little proof of that. The roots of some of the “African” type marigolds are said to repel nematodes, little soil creatures that harm plant roots.

Like cleome, marigold foliage also has a scent that some people find unpleasant, but once again it needs to be brushed against or broken to smell.  Some people actually like the smell of marigolds.  There are varieties of marigolds that have been developed to be almost scentless.

Zinnias

Every respectable gardener used to plant zinnias in the garden for garden color and to use as cut flowers.  They were often exhibited at state fairs.  Now gardeners seem to have forgotten these beauties.  Zinnias do have the unfortunate predilection for getting powdery mildew, a white powdery fungal disease of the foliage that makes the plants look bad.  However many powdery mildew resistance varieties now exist.  When not crowded and grown in sunny, drier areas with good air circulation zinnias will bloom their heads off for you and make a wonderful garden plant.

Zinnias have daisy-like flowers and come in all colors and color mixtures except true blue. There are small flowered plants, and plants with 6 inch or larger blooms.  There are short, sprawling type zinnias, compact uprights and tall stately zinnias.  Plant zinnias where you want them to grow after the last frost or 6-8 weeks before the last frost inside. Small flowered zinnias begin blooming in about 6 weeks, larger ones start in mid-summer and bloom until frost.  Keep the dead flowers picked off zinnias to encourage prolific blooming.

All of the above annual plants need to be spaced about 6-8 inches apart for small varieties and 8 -12 inches apart for larger plants. They should be watered if it’s dry for a week or so.  And they benefit from a good flowering formula, slow release fertilizer worked into the soil at planting time.  Annual flowers are great for kids to grow as they bloom quickly and for long periods of time.  Your garden will look great this summer if you mix some of these popular annuals into it.

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Saving tender perennials for indoor use.

There are many plants that many gardeners grow in their gardens and outdoor containers as annual plants that are really perennial plants in warmer climates.  Some of our most common bedding plants that we treat as annuals fall into this category.  If gardeners rescue these plants before a frost they can become attractive houseplants for the winter.

It’s also economical to keep a few tender perennials over the winter so you don’t have to buy them again in the spring.  Many of these tender perennials can be multiplied by cuttings to produce a whole new selection to use outdoors next spring or to share with friends.   Some tender perennials that are over-wintered become large, attractive plants that would be impossible to obtain with one summers growth.

There is a list of these tender perennials that can winter indoors given below.  If these plants are growing in the ground they should be dug up and carefully potted.  If they are crammed into a container that is pretty full and lush it would be wise to separate the different plants and pot them separately.  Plants that are in containers where true annuals can be removed to give them room, or that have enough room, can be brought inside in the pots they were growing in.  Check the plants and the pots carefully so you don’t bring in small surprise guests like frogs and mice.

Use a good, lightweight potting soil if you need to re-pot tender perennials you are bringing inside.  It is a good idea to spray plants with an insecticide or use a systemic insecticide on them the day before you bring them inside.  Some insects can become a big problem indoors if they hitch a ride inside.  Do not fertilize any over wintering perennials until March.

Some of these plants go semi-dormant in winter, even when brought inside.  They will begin growing again in the spring however, as the days lengthen.  The plants that do go into a resting stage can often be kept in a room that is well lit but has cool temperatures that stay just above freezing.  Other tender perennials need room temperatures that don’t go below 55 degrees F. to do well over the winter.

Instead of bringing whole plants inside you can sometimes take cuttings of plants and over winter small plants you start from them.  It is better to start these plants outside in late summer, and then bring in the small pots before frost.  However, if frost threatens and it seems to be too much work to bring a large plant inside, take a few cuttings and try your luck.

Don’t try to save too many tender perennials unless you have a big greenhouse.  Just save the most expensive, rarest or your personal favorites.  You can propagate cuttings from one or two plants for a new border of impatiens rather than trying to save the whole border. All plants need room and good light and the more you have, the more time you will spend caring for them. 

Tender perennials that need warm winter conditions

These plants need temperatures that stay above 55 degrees, bright light and moderate watering over winter.

 

Coleus

Coleus, impatiens, fibrous rooted and cane type begonias, sweet potato vines, polka dot plants, “spikes” ( dracaenas), banana plants, lantana, lofos,  aloes, agaves, Joseph’s coat( Alternathera ficoidea), fuchsia, eucalyptus, Chinese hibiscus, abutilon, bougainvillea, mandevilla,  and any tropical plant used outside in containers.

Tender perennials that can go semi-dormant

Bring these into a cool, above freezing place with bright light and water lightly, just enough to keep them from wilting.  Trim back straggly ends and yellowed foliage.

Geraniums, diascia, rosemary, perennial reeds and grasses not hardy to your zone , lavenders not hardy in your zone , salvia Black and Blue and other perennial salvias not hardy to your zone, if you have other plants that are hardy to zone 6 to 8, but not zone 5, for example,  this could work.

Regal geranium

Tender bulbs and tubers

Bring  these into cool not freezing area, natural daylight,  leave bulbs in pots to die back, after foliage dies cease watering, keep above freezing, begin watering again in March, place in full sun.

Colocasia- (elephants ears and taro), Eucomis- (pineapple lilies), caladiums, calla lilies, tuberous begonias.

Other tender bulbs like cannas, glads, dahlias, etc. can be dug after a light frost kills the foliage and stored dry, with foliage cut off, in peat moss, sand, wood shavings or vermiculite.

Eucomis, 'Sparkling Burgandy'