I'm not very familiar with these plants and the fairly new cultivars. I'm sure most of you have seen them in garden centers. They are usually sold under the common name, 'Million Bells'.
More than likely, they will be sold in hanging baskets, sometimes in regular pots. Smaller pots are offered with a single color while the hanging baskets usually hold several colors.
The pictured basket was given to me. A $15.00 basket, it stayed in a massive display of several different colors all season long. At season's end, I had no room to overwinter the plants inside. I left the basket outside, unprotected, on top of the ground.
This spring, I was happily surprised to find that one of the colors had survived. The different pinks and the white were killed by the cold, but the red was hardy enough to survive a 3 degree night.
With a long growing season still ahead, the remaining red plants could grow enough to fill in most of the basket. Cuttings could be taken to hasten the process. I would not do that as the whole Million Bells line is patented.
But then, house wrens can't google this information. If one builds a nest in the basket, (as they have before), and if the nest bends down a stem, causing it to stay in contact with the soil and take root, I don't feel I am responsible.
So, before you discard a basket of Calibrachoa this fall, do consider that some of the plants may just survive the winter, giving you another season of beautiful bells.
The basket is beginning to fill out. By Summer's end it should be full. Remember that these plants survived 3 degree cold. So, next Spring, I should have a full basket at the beginning of the season. And to think, most people would have thrown the basket away.
