I have an umbrella plant and would like to have it survive the winter. The problem is that I really don't have a place to put it if I bring it indoors.

What is the best way to get this plant to survive until May 2008?

What zone do you live in? If it gets below about 45 degrees F there outside, then the plant won't survive outside. If you can't bring it inside, what about a garage, basement, storage shed, or any other protected building? You could try to cover or protect the plant but that will only go so far when it's below freezing outside. Good luck!

I live in zone 5. I can put it in my basement but it gets down to around 35 F, so that wont work. It seems that the problem is trying to chill it to get it to go dormant but not killing it is a narrow window.

So I guess that I need to find a place that will keep the roots wet and is around 50 F. Might not be too easy.

I'm on the border zone 4/5 and have been successful overwintering plants in the basement, using Rubermaid tubs of water.

As long as water doesn't freeze you should be fine. 35 F degrees is close but not there. When water freezes (32F), is when "ice expansion" damages the molecule structure (walls) of the plants, thus killing them.

Umbrella plant will die long before it gets to 35 degrees F because it's a very tropical plant. It probably is better overwintered active which means over 70 degrees F (75 to even 80 is better). You can also try to overwinter it dormant at about 55-70 degrees F. I've never had that plant but I've overwintered canna tubers in sphagnum moss and tropical water lily tubers in wet sand.

The plant is still in the pond and looking great but it is getting close to a frost. If a frost is forcasted, should I cut the foilage off and leave the pot in the water (64 F) until the water drops to maybe 50 F, or bring the pot into the basement (68 F)??

I'm going to bring in my tropical pond plants (except for the lily) next Sunday here in Zone 6/7. The tropical plants do better if you bring them in before they are harmed by low temperatures. If the pond water is now 64 degrees F, and it's 68 degrees F in the basement, now is as good a time as any to bring it in so there's little temperature change. It should survive though down to 50 degrees F if you want to wait. Keep in mind that, at least around here, water temperatures can plummet after a single night of high winds in the mid to late fall.