For the past 6 or 7 years, I have taken mine in before we have a freeze. I will probably take mine in this week and take some cuttings for new plants. Then, they go into the windows.

Does this apply to Pelargonia also ("Martha Washington Geraniums")?

Can they be over-wintered in the house and be worthwhile to replant outside next year? Do they need to be kept growing, or can they go dormant in an unfrozen place (eg, basement)?

Thanks!

Jim,
I have a lot going on in the fall preparing for winter and this is what I have been doing with my geraniums. I pull them out of the ground and shake off the excess dirt(did it a few days ago) and I trim them up a bit (cut off any flowers). I put them in a big brown paper bag and keep them in the garage (my garage is insulated and doesn't get extremely cold). In early spring, I soak em a few hours and put them back in the ground. They look terrible at first, but they'll come around and look beautiful by mid summer. I have an 85% success rate. It's easy and it works. If you have lots to do and limited space, this is the way to go.

I brought mine in last week and placed them in regular house pots. They will flush quite a few leaves but new ones will come back. I have never lost a geranium by bringing them in like this. I was a little sloppy this year and had to ram some roots back into the dirt in the pots. They really got big. So far, everything looks normal.

Once the flush of old leaves is over, I will look for some new growth and start new plants by putting them in water and waiting for roots. I have about a 50 percent new growth rate.

They don't bloom as much inside but if they are in the sun, they will bloom. With sun, the blooming will pick up in January - February.

When I plant them outside, after the last freeze, they will flush many of the leaves they grew inside and then start their outside leaves. New leaves will come in where they became a bit leggy.

I am no expert on geraniums but I believe mine are referred to as the "hardy" type. Whatever they are, they are tough.

My geraniums now have adjusted to the inside of the house. I have 4 large red ones in the family room and around the fireplace and they look like Poinsettia. They are full of blooms and I did not lose many leaves from the transplant. Another small coral one is on a window sill in the family room and the last coral one is on a window sill in my office.

Other than bringing in some bugs, there is a minor problem with the petals of the flowers staining rugs. You have to be careful when you pick any petals from the rug. Better yet, just suck them up with a vacuum attachment.

Thank you all for your advice. I ended up bringing them in about a week and a half ago. I placed them all in our garage which has 3 good sized windows so that they would be weather protected and get light. After a few days of that I brought them inside. All 2 dozen or so are doing very well...hardly any leaves and all still have blooms and buds with new leaves. Yeah!!!

Thanks again,

Jim

How are your geraniums? I'm not sure if mine are geranium or pelargonium. I think they are Pelargonium hortorum. Anyway, they are the plants you see at nearly every nursery--big heart shaped leaves.

All mine have made it through the winter in pots in front of a large southern window. They should begin blooming in about a month. I took 5 cuttings, put them in tap water, and two have rooted so far. Tomorrow, I will water my potted plants and take more cuttings.

I know this sounds amateurish but it works.

Those would be pelargoniums! I've found that of all the cuttings I've rooted in the past, they were the easiest to just stuff in soil and water and they would root! I always used to stick broken-off pieces back in with the mother plants. I had one for about 7 years before it finally succombed to something - It think the spider mites that plagued me last year. I may try some new ones this year. I do have a rose-scented one that has grown pretty huge and leggy that I need to really cut back and makes some cuttings for sis. I wanted to see if I could get a little bloom out of it just for the heck of it to see what that would look like before I prune.

My current oldest are probably about 4 years old. I had to leave their parents with friends at my old house and those were 10 years old or so. I once had 25 of them from a few nursery plants and the rest from cuttings.

Now I am building my stock again. I have a large area over the foyer door where I can place them for the Winter. Most of mine are all bright red. I have a couple coral ones too. They are so happy and easy to grow. I just remembered I have to get the ladder and get up and water them now and take some more cuttings.

Bob

Took three more cuttings and now have eight cuttings. The last three were all large. I will plant the two that have rooted in potting soil next week and any others with roots after that. In April, all the pelargonium plants will go back into the garden. After an initial flush of leaves, they begin to branch out from all directions. C'mon Spring.

Bob

Mine survived fine other than the flushing of leaves as you mentioned Bob. The nursery down the road had a 50%sale last summer so I bought about a dozen more each one a different type. Some are the hanging type as well. This last bunch I buried the tags along side of the plants so I could see which I liked the best as they grew. I know there is a Martha in there somewhere from the year before but that was before I thought about labels. ah well... I'm planning on building flower boxes for several windows and filling them with the geraniums. I can't wait!!!

Jim

vlf4230:

They may flush their leaves again when you plant them outside. However, they will come right back and will fill in where they look leggy. They should look very nice in the boxes.

Bob

I just potted my third pelargonium that had rooted in water. I have eight more cuttings in water--took three more cuttings this morning.

These kids are the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of original plants I bought at Behnke's in Beltsville, MD back in the 1990s. They were the bright, fancy ones that cost $4.50 or something a plant back then.

I feel like a daddy.

Bob

I think I'm a pelargoniac.

At the beginning of November 2004, I brought in my 6 pelargonium. As you can see from above, I took some cuttings.

Well, now I have 11 new pelargonium plants in pots. OK, I did a bit of trimming on the original 6 plants this morning when I watered them. I took another 9 cuttings.

Since I am experiencing a 100 percent success rate, I will have 26 pelargoniums by the end of the month.

I've become a monster.