I love geraniums! Don't need a lot of them to have a big impact, what with those riotous colors and huge flower heads. Can't go wrong with a geranium in a clay pot -- always looks good, a classic combination.

I, too, overwinter my geraniums. Primarily because I have a specific cultivar that isn't easy to find, and it's just the right shade of hot pink -- neither too violet nor too pink. I do the paper bag trick, but I also keep one mother plant in the windowsill for cuttings in case of bare-root storage failure.

Here's a few of mine:

Rocky Mountain Deep Rose with a NOID white in the background:

NOID white:

@porkchop_z5b_MI, I do like that section of garden between the house and the deck.

^^ Thanks. There is a path that lead off the steps. I planted all that because it's a lovely view out those windows of the great room. The garden swings way round all the sides of the deck and the other way around the other side of the great room, this is just a small sliver of it.

And how the h*ll I'm going to tend to all of it when I'm old is still a question in my mind...

Today we were visiting our relative who lives in a senior's residence. We had planted 2 geraniums in this container back in May and she has looked after it since. Her balcony isn't optimal for this planting as it doesn't get enough direct sun but she liked geraniums so much when she was in her previous home with a garden. To be honest it looks better today November 20 than it did in August!

Seeing that red geranium reminds me of when I used to plant red geraniums in the front of my first house -- I just loved the bright red color and the fact I could plant just a handful across the front bed and get plenty of color and lush greenery. Back in those days, a local place used to sell geraniums in small clay pots, and they took it on faith you'd return the pots to their nursery for re-use. Those were the days!

I am attempting to overwinter my geraniums this year. I've done it in the past, using the hanging-from-the-basement-rafters methods - I still can't believe that that worked lol! This year I'm not bothering with that and I'm trying a new-to-me method - just putting them in cardboard boxes and then in the basement.

If it doesn't work it's not a big deal. I just figured that with annuals getting so expensive, why not try to save the geraniums? If even half of the 15 or so I have overwinter, that will save me $60-$75.

the hardest part was figuring out when to pull them. They were all doing so incredibly well I didn't have the heart to dig them up. I still have about a half dozen out in pots, and I'm hoping the wintry mix we had overnight didn't do much damage, and then I'll get them tomorrow after work.

Across the street from the driveway to a shopping plaza, where I stop for quick grocery trips, there is a house that had some light pink geraniums with darker pink eyes, in a raised wooden box around their mailbox. I loved driving by it every day. It was show-stopping. Something so simple, but with so much impact!

:)

Dee

@mxk3 z5b_MI, the pink geranium really stands out!

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, I also have’t tried wintering geranium before but will try this year too. We do not have basement so I plan to put the potted plants inside a box in garage. I have a red and a lavender. Agree plants are getting so expensive these days

Oops, posted this to the wrong thread lol! But today I pulled the last three geraniums. It was hard to do because they are still full and in bloom and bud, but I didn't want to lose them to a frost, so into the basement they go. Hoping this new method works as well as the rafters method!

:)

Dee

I spent a little while yesterday picking dead leaves and tidying up the geraniums I took in. Normally I'd just take a few cuttings, but this year for some reason I'm also on the 'love em cause they're undemanding' bandwagon and have a bunch which came in. I think it was the dry weather and the fact they could survive my concept of a plan watering.

Normally besides cuttings of favorites I would throw pot-fuls into a corner of the garage which stays above freezing, but over the years I've upgraded to ceramic and clay pots and any 'tossing' of those is not appreciated by my back, so now they get yanked out of the pots and (hopefully) repotted into the smallest pots I can fit them in and placed under a flourescent shop light in the basement. They look miffy now, but if things look floralific in January-February I'll post a photo to cheer things up!

This year I'm not bothering with that and I'm trying a new-to-me method - just putting them in cardboard boxes and then in the basement.

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, FWIW that is how I do it exclusively and it works just fine.

Here is one that I pulled out late last month and have overwintered bareroot for the past few years. Because I start repot it early inside, with the headstart it gets huge (what you are seeing is one plant). What you see here isn't what I finally boxed up....too big for any box I had and so I trimmed it back lots.

Thanks for the info and pep talk rouge! Two questions: First, do you put several in a box? I have so many geraniums and so few boxes that fit them, but I don't want to cram too many in a box (thinking disease, etc).

Secondly, you DO trim them before putting them in boxes, huh? I read somewhere that you shouldn't, but if you do so successfully perhaps I will trim some of mine back for space purposes.

Kato kudos to you for all the cuttings and potting up and watching over winter (and to everyone else who does that!) I just don't have time or space and if I am being honest here (I'm inspired by all the confessions over on the bulb thread hahaha!) I don't know if I have the motivation to do all that work! I'm just too lazy lol. Although in my defense I will say I have tried that route - cuttings, potting up, indoor plant-sitting - and it never succeeded for me. Probably because my concept of a plan of overwintering was never fully or correctly implemented and things were neglected after the first two or three zealous weeks lol.

But the throw-in-a-bag-and-throw-in-the-basement method is more my speed! :)

I can't speak for everyone, but perhaps our collective attempt at overwintering this year was because, to me at least, the geraniums seemed to really outperform themselves. I mean, they are ALWAYS reliable, bloom-filled, easy, low-maintenance, lovely-foliaged, pretty-bloom, veratile plants. Always. But something about this year - they really caught my attention. Maybe it was nothing more than the quite extended season this year. I mean, to be debating a few days before Thanksgiving if I should leave my blooming geraniums outside or dig them up is quite unusual here!

But again, what have I got to lose by throwing them in a bag in the basement? It took me all of a hour (probably less) to dig, bag and go downstairs. A worthwhile investment if it works, not a big deal if it doesn't. (Certainly a HECK of a lot easier than those darn dahlias which I commit to every fall and spring lol!)

:)

Dee

Sure. If you cant fit them into one box, go ahead. (No Amazon boxes?)

I can imagine why not to trim before packing up but it was too big for a box. This is one instance where I should have not boxed it but rather just hung it up. Dopey me.

I brought mine inside for storage last weekend. I dug them about a week before and let them dry out a bit in the barn before pulling into storage (not dry-dry, but enough so the roots aren't damp/wet). I don't trim in the fall, reason being I don't want to encourage new growth. You've got to get them dormant and keep them dormant until potting up in the spring.

I usually take one mother plant inside as insurance against losses on the pink one up-thread, because I can't find that cultivar locally anymore, and I want that one. But this year I took cuttings instead. I did that earlier in the fall to ensure they'd root before I lost my chance to bring a mother inside the house if needed. They did, and they're doing well in the sunny windowsill for now.

One advantage to over-wintering aside from the cost savings is that after a couple years the plants get HUGE. It would cost a pretty penny and then some to buy potted geraniums that large at the nursery, if you could even find them.

LOL rouge, I try not to buy from Amazon. Bezos will rule the world one day. I know buying from any other big corporation isn't much better, but I try not to put another penny in his pocket or add to the monopoly that is developing there. Maybe I can just store the geraniums in my soapbox if I get off it? :)

Anyway, funny thing, a custodian at worked has been trained to always ask me about big pieces of cardboard (that I use for weed mat under mulch). I asked him the other day to look out for a few big boxes for me, gave him the general dimensions and told him the deeper the better. He says to me the other day, hey, I've got a box for you. Awesome! I said... and he brought me the box, broken down and flattened! Oh well, back to the drawing board lol.

Anyway, thanks for that added info. Yes, mxk, that was another reason why I was hesitant to trim back - why not keep it as big as possible for next year?

:)

Dee

Maybe I can just store the geraniums in my soapbox if I get off it? :)

Very clever Dee.

why not keep it as big as possible for next year?

The one I show above, bareroot is really large and I would bet that much of that growth was because I potted it up so early in the new year.

"Yes, mxk, that was another reason why I was hesitant to trim back - why not keep it as big as possible for next year?"

Oh no no no -- I think you misunderstood. The reason for not trimming back is to prevent encouragement of more top growth. Like I said -- get it dormant, keep it dormant; don't do anything to stimulate growth right now. The reason they get bigger every year is because of the increase in root mass over time and more basal branching.

I trim them down to 1-2" of stem when I take them out of storage in the spring. It seems drastic, but trust me once they start growing look out -- and you want low branching for nicely-shaped, sturdy plants.

Our last two geraniums for 2025.

^^ HA look at that, they even want to bloom in the snow!

UPDATE March 2026:

Can we restart this thread please?

I have geranium on my bonnet as I have potted up some dormant ones over the last couple of weeks. Each year I love these plants more and more. But I want to branch out, trying to have less "common" ones. I love my "Vancouver Centennial" which I have been able to overwinter for a few years now. And the other day I came across "Mr. Wren"; available later this spring as a small plant.

https://geraniaceae.com/plant/pelargoniums_sentimental-favorites_p-mr-wren/

Just curious if you have a not oft seen pelargonium that you enjoy?

Thanks @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) for the post.

Not to be boastful but I have a bright red zonal pelly still pushing out a few smallish blooms,

Boast away!

'gg', I think it has been a couple/few seasons since you moved. Have you now settled in in terms of your garden?

'gg', I think it has been a couple/few seasons since you moved. Have you now settled in in terms of your garden?

Rouge, your question is remarkably timely...........and the short aswer is no.

As you may recall, my current garden - a small condo backyard - is tiny. Only about 800 sf, a good portion of which is a wood deck. A storage shed takes up another small chunk.

When I first moved in, I had envisioned a garden filled with an assortment of planted containers, most of which moved with me - dwarf conifers, Japanese maples, a plant geek's collection of random oddities, etc. I moved nothing that was planted in the ground. It seemed like a very good idea initially, as my soil is like concrete and the containers were ready to go.

However..............my visions were larger than my gardening self could easily manage. The plants and containers somehow multiplied and caring for them properly became more of a chore than a pleasure and they suffered. Two seasons later and it was NOT the garden of my visions!!

Also, in the past six moths or so, my health has been a little shaky and I even wound up in hospital recently. So now my little garden is in yet another period of turmoil/redesign. With the help of friends and family, I just recently did a major edit, removing all the permanent type plants that were not looking good and a great many of the perennials. In another couple of weeks, they will be back to dig a bed along the fence perimeter and plant most/all the container plants, And probably add a few more broadleaf evergreens for some needed repetition, ease of maintenance and to fill things in

A few of my geeky collector plants will stay in containers on the deck and I will plant up some for seasonal color. But at my age and health condition, I just can no longer manage to care for some 40 plus containers.

Getting old is not fun when we can no longer engage fully in the activities we love.

All potted up and tucked in under the lights for the next 10 weeks or so:

Gardengal: Sorry to hear about your health troubles. Hope you will be able to still garden in some capacity, even if much more limited than you'd like.

porkchop - thanks for your good wishes. Yes, I will still garden but in a very limited manner - herbs, the odd veggies, seasonal containers and my remaining collection of geeky plants. The planted garden will be maintained by someone else but I will oversee and do the watering. I like to water!!

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), I am very sorry to hear of your health challenges. I know some of what you may be feeling and for sure it is at the very least disconcerting having to focus on such an important thing as one's wellness. Keep posting please.

I could only dream of making them bloom like the OP.

What kind of neglect do I need to engage in that I am not doing, nobody knows. Maybe watering less and smaller pot?

I love them but was never able to get those individual flowers in big balls to open up at once. BY the time the outer ones open the middle ones are gone.

Agree 100% with the OP. pellys are tremendous when grown outdoors as plants that are multiple years old. One year I saved some from winter and brought them in and planted them back out in spring and they were big, bad, blooming machines with resplendent foliage!