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geraniums

(31 Posts)
travelsafar Fri 18-Oct-19 14:24:39

Hi all anyone had success in keeping plants through the winter? I have seeral beautiful healthly ones. I bought htme from local supermarket when very small, kept them in an unheated greenhouse and nutured them, they grew big and strong and i have had a wonderful display this year. They are large and bushy, still flowering, but i know the colder weather will kill them if i keep them in the ground. Any tips would be greatly appreciated as i dodnt want to loose them, they are like my babies!!! lol smile

aggie Fri 18-Oct-19 14:30:11

I have dug mine up ,trimmed them to a manageable size , put them in pots and have them on the spare bedroom window I’ll wait till spring and take cuttings from them . Kept nearly dry they do ok but not dried out

NfkDumpling Fri 18-Oct-19 14:31:57

I’ve had reasonable success keeping favourites overwinter. I pot them up, trim them back a bit and tidy them up and keep them in an unheated utility room. Practically no water until spring when they look as if they want to start growing again. I’ve also had success taking cuttings from the new spring shoots.

I think there’s less change in temperature in the utility room rather than an unheated greenhouse, and it’s also darker. I don’t know if that makes a difference.

Whitewavemark2 Fri 18-Oct-19 14:41:27

I bung mine into the unseated greenhouse. They are fine. Wake them up in the spring.

polnan Fri 18-Oct-19 14:49:52

I am planning on wrapping my pelargoniums (proper name so I understand LOL) in newspaper, bare rooted and keep in cold shed... I do hope they survive.

LondonGranny Fri 18-Oct-19 15:43:06

I cut them back a bit and use the bits for cuttings as an insurance policy. Some go into a cool unheated room with a north-facing window and the ones outside in pots which are quite mature now and in gritty compost are put in a place shielded from rain. I take a cutting or two for indoors but don't otherwise cut them back at all. It rarely gets below 3 centigrade here and they usually survive.

Liaise Fri 18-Oct-19 15:50:18

We trim ours and put them in the garage.

toscalily Fri 18-Oct-19 17:37:30

I have several in pots, so I will trim, repot into something smaller and store in the shed which is unheated but with windows. These along with some of my more delicate fuchsia usually survive the winter. I give them a misting of water on a occasion, gradually increasing as the weather gets warmer. I also have a few cuttings indoors.

Thebeeb Sat 19-Oct-19 09:42:39

I’ve tried just bunching them up altogether in both greenhouse and garage. Take out in spring and pot up. About 50/50 survival rate so worth a try.
Might try keeping a couple of good bushy ones going on kitchen windowsill this year.
Watch this space?

dahlia08 Sat 19-Oct-19 10:02:39

I have geranium in the garden. I take cutting and pot them in the green house.

BusterTank Sat 19-Oct-19 10:36:57

If they are not pots but in the ground , you could do this if they are in pots as Well . Trim them back but don't go to mad . Then put some horse manure around base , then put some straw around them .

Craftycat Sat 19-Oct-19 11:02:12

I over winter all my pots in an unheated greenhouse & they are always fine- to be fair I do live in South East & garden fairly sheltered.

Lancslass1 Sat 19-Oct-19 11:22:20

I put non hardy fuchsias in a bag of soil in an unheated greenhouse.
I put my pelargoniums in a bin bag of good compost and put them in the garage.
Other plants I cover with wood chips and hope for the best.

travelsafar Sat 19-Oct-19 12:55:04

Thanks for the sugggestions. I think i will try and take some cuttings to be safe, then do as many say, trim them and put in an old grow bag filled with fresh compost and leave in the greenhouse. Fingers crossed they survive the winter.

Niobe Sat 19-Oct-19 13:12:21

It does depend where you are. When I lived in Glasgow I had pelargoniums in my kitchen windowbox and they survived the Scottish winters because they were kept dry and sheltered by the over hanging eaves of our bungalow. I used to leave them alone and only cut off the dried, dead bits in spring.

In London now I have 2 pots of blood red ones and they have survived on my east facing doorstep for the last 2 winters without any problem.
My non hardy fuchsias have survived here as well.

Anthea1948 Sat 19-Oct-19 13:26:57

I tend to pick a few healthy ones and bring them indoors, In spring I take cuttings and they usually do okay. When we had a greenhouse I used to keep them in there, watering them sparingly and they did really well.

narrowboatnan Sat 19-Oct-19 16:37:46

I overwintered my pelargoniums last winter by taking them out of their pots, wrapping the rooted ends in newspaper and plonked them all in a plastic carrier bag which I hung up in the canvas hood that covers the back of our boat. Repotted them in the spring and they’ve given me a lovely display all summer. Just one puzzle - last summer they had white flowers, this summer the same plants gave me pink ones! How very odd!

Phoebes Sat 19-Oct-19 16:59:08

We bought a large plastic cold frame, which we put up on our patio every autumn and put our pelargoniums in there, in their pots. I trim them back a bit first.Ninety per cent of them survive the winter although some of them do look a bit past it come the spring. They nearly always revive, given a drink and a good trim. I take a few of the prettiest ones and the bougainvillea indoors for the winter and treat them like house plants and they brighten the house up. I cut back the fuchsias and leave them outside to fend for themselves and they always come back in the spring, though it may take them a while to get going.

Merryweather Sat 19-Oct-19 18:03:39

I’ve potted as much as I can and put them in my zip up greenhouse thing. I may have over watered them though. It’s in a sheltered position and gets the sun most of the day. Fingers crossed.

I’m awful with cuttings though. Would root powder help? I may be over watering/ infrequently watering/ being a tad rubbish.

Grammaretto Sat 19-Oct-19 18:28:50

Living in the icy north I have no hope of leaving them outside but I bring them indoors and they last for years on the window ledge. I also take cuttings. They are the easiest things as they always sprout in a jamjar of water.

Gin Sat 19-Oct-19 22:37:14

It depends on how hard the winter is. In the South east last year was pretty mild but if it is a hard one below freezing for longish periods even covered in fleece and in a cold greenhouse they will not survive. Always take some plants in and use trimmings for cuttings as an insurance. I have today potted up cuttings and they will overwinter in the spare bedroom.

Hetty58 Sat 19-Oct-19 22:45:27

Merryweather, I sprinkle cuttings with cinnamon powder to prevent rotting. They do best in free draining compost so I add grit to it.

jeanie99 Thu 14-Nov-19 12:29:30

I'm in Lincoln so take all my plants in pots (except the absolutely heavy ones) into my garage Nov time each year.

I am very lazy and although you are supposed to take the fibrous begonias out to dry I just leave them in the pots and they still come up every year when I replace with fresh potting compost. The same with the lilies I have in pots.
It's worked for me.

Bezelmoth Thu 14-Nov-19 12:47:44

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Resurgam123 Fri 06-Dec-19 08:01:07

Geraniums are really good any where in the garden. I tend to grow the small "Alpine" type.
Then some big ones that are very useful in very dry areas . They are hardy.