I would like to know how to do this. At the moment my geraniums are all still in the garden but with the frosts getting closer I need to get them out. Do I put insoil in pots indoors or bare root and hang. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Philip
I accidentally discovered that geraniums will survive the coldest weather. I put a geranium in our garage, thinking I would re-use the pot the following year. When I pulled the plant out in the spring, for some reason I decided to water it and viola! the geranium made a grand comeback. Now I just put them (in pots) in cold storage (basement, garage) and leave them alone during the winter. Come spring, I cut them back, and they do extremely well.
You can put them with what soil left on them after digging up and place in trash bag with the end left open and put in a basement...sprinkle some water on them every now and then. People used to hang in basements when the basements were dirt floors and so they got some moisture...
I have done this both ways and it works. I have also just taken 10 to 15 centimeter cuttings and pulled off lower leafs, exposing the nodes then dipping them in water,and in rooting hormone powder and placing them in dampened perlite. Make sure to make perlite damp not soggy, and make a pencil hole to put the cuttingin, firm the perlite around the base. There should be no blooms left on the cuttings when you do this. Around 4 - 6 weeks you should see hairy roots. Pot them up and enjoy blooms in Late winter and early spring or keep pinching out blooms only so all energy can go to plant and rooting. Then when weather permits place outside gradually. One year I ran outside and pulled them all and put them in a box under the wash tub in the basement where it was cool and dark and just left them. In spring I put what looked like dead sticks in the ground and by mid summer they were very hardy and showing their stuff. For the most part they are very forgiving plants. I have some here that are 4 years old, but I do lose a few and the older they get the more woody the stems become. Try a few in different ways and see which way you prefer. Every gardener has their own successes and failures and that is how we learn and enjoy. Have fun. Isn't that what gardening is all about enjoyment? Good Luck, have fun, learn.
Isn't it just grand how the variety of methods for overwintering geraniums work. Guess I'm lazy. Put them in the cellar, ignore them, cut them back in the spring, root the cuttings and then I have four times the geraniums that I had the previous year. Thanks to all for suggestions. Yours in the love of gardening and geraniums. Terri
Terri, yours are easier to keep over winter as my sister lives in Woodlawn and from what I understand, it is humid there and doesn't get snow, and if it does, it is minimal. For us with dry climates and snow for winter, things are harder to keep over winter. And also bring out in time for them to be blooming earlier.
