Bringing plants inside

What can thrive inside and what can't. Many herbs can make the transition to a sunny window. Some herbs such as the perennial, rosemary, do well indoors. The parsleys do fine but my basil falls apart. Maybe this Mediterranean herb does not get enough light as the days shorten.

Last year I brought pansy plants inside, sheared them back and hoped they would bloom again. They did do so but with such small short-lived blooms the experiment was hardly worth the effort. I remembering giving one pansy plant as a gift to be told later that blooms fell off and in a few days the plant died. Not a great gift.

This year I have brought in a few geraniums and they are starting to set buds already.

Ever since I had an infestation of aphids in the plants of my back porch, I have been very cautious about bringing in the outdoors. I was able to defeat the aphids with Safer's Trounce but recently I heard of a woman who brought in slugs (or the eggs) and they crawled around her basement. Yikes! Before I bring a plant inside for the winter, I pull it, shake off the excess soil and give it a quick bath in warm soapy water. (Soapy water kills aphids. ) I rinse it off under the hose and replant inside using a sterile soil mix such as Pro-mix. The plants survive this rough treatment surprisingly well.