Topic: Help neeeded with geraniums

[Jeannine]

Hi all, I  don't do flowers very well but I was given two large hanging  moss baskets for my patio as a house warming gift.  Everything has finished except the geraniums which are in full bloom and look  really good. Problem is I have no place to bring them in over the winter and anyway I  know diddly about them. I have wrapped the moss basket part in several layers of fleece then plastic wrap but left the plants which grow out the top exposed. Of course since the other plants have died from the sides and bottoms they have holes in now so I also have wrapped plastic round the fleece otherwise the water just pors out when I see to them.

What do I do with them..do I still water in the winter or feed or what?? Or should I just chuck them.

Can the moss baskets be re used if I chuck the geraniums.

 Help..I don't do flowers.

XX jeannine

[Rosa_Mundi]

Hi Jeannine. Geraniums can't stand any frost, so I think their chances of surviving a Canadian winter outdoors is zero. You could take them out of their basket, trim the tops back, put them in a plantpot and bring them indoors. Either that, or you could try taking cuttings from them and rooting them indoors.
With regard to the basket, I presume it's lined with moss? You can let that dry and re-use it next year, yes.

[Trevor_D]

Don't chuck the geraniums. As Rosa says, pot them into large pots, trim them a bit to tidy them up, and bring them indoors as house plants.

We over-winter ours in a slightly-heated greenhouse, but often bring in the larger ones. And if you have somewhere to over-winter cuttings, then go for it. We're doing this with ours at the moment and hope to have enough cuttings over-wintered to give us a new supply of plants next spring.

[aggie]

Hi Jeannine,

I bring my geraniums into my porch, i have pots that hang on the wall. I just tidy them up every now.  just brought in this years and thrown away the ones i had in there from last year. Its lovely as they flower all winter.

[1066]

Until last year I managed to keep my geraniums outside all winter, but lost them with the colder winter winter we had. Luckily I had taken some cuttings.

So if you can find the room a few cuttings in a pot of compost on a windowsill and you can start again next year (that's if you want to !  ;) )

My way of over wintering plants in the garden is to get a pot larger than the 1 the plant is in, put some straw at the bottom, put the plant in its pot in the big pot (if you see what I mean), and then stuff straw down the sides and then fleece on top - so far my yellow cannas etc have made it through. Just a shame I forgot about the geraniums!!  ;D  ::)  But I don't know if that would work for you in Canada  :-\

[shirlton]

We line our baskets with plastic inside the moss. Just poke a few holes in the bottom to let the excess water out. Looks abit nicer than seeing the plastic.

[GrannieAnnie]

Another alternative if you don't want to fiddle with their care during the winter-
shake most of the dirt off them and hang the plant bare rooted upside down in a dark room. I've hung them in the basement and by March or April you'll start seeing green leaves. Then you pot them up and put them in the light and they spring to life again (well, most of them.)

[Jeannine]

Ooh lots of good ideas, thank you so much, actually our Canadian weather is much milder than yours here in coastal BC but I will have a go at potting them for the apartment, not very bright though but probably safer than outside.

OK Cuttings , do I just chop bits off , stick them in rooting hormone and plant in pots.

Sorry but I absolutely gormless when it comes to anything that flowers,

XX Jeannine

[Trevor_D]

For cuttings, take off the end couple of inches, cutting just below a joint. Strip off all but the top couple of leaves (plus any flowers). I don't bother with rooting powder. Pop them into a small pot - I pot up 6 per pot and put a label in the middle. Keep warm & moist - I've got a heated sand-bench in my greenhouse - and eventually they will produce roots.

Hope that makes sense?

[Jeannine]

That makes perfect sense,, thank you Trevor XX Jeannine

[gwynnethmary]

we bring ours into the conservatory around October, let them continue flowering until around Christmas, then cut them right back to allow them a rest period.  We water them  very sparingly until they start to put out new shoots in the spring, then give them a good soak to get them going again. Usually by the end of May we can put them back outside and they flower all over again for us, giving a colourful display right through until Christmas again.