Pelargoniums should not be confused with hardy geraniums. You might be wondering what makes a geranium different from a pelargonium. Similar to some siblings, they are both members of the same plant family, but they could not be more unlike.
Pelargoniums cannot withstand frost, while hardy geraniums can. Pelargoniums are usually treated as annuals and replanted each year, but true hardy geraniums are perennials that grow back every year. Pelargoniums die in the winter.
Prune your Hardy Geraniums
Your sturdy geraniums will look their best and promote new growth if you prune them properly. By correctly pruning your hardy geraniums after the blooming season, you can encourage repeat blooming. The majority of geraniums can be cut back twice in a single season, which allows them to bloom at least three times.
When to Prune
Your hardy geraniums should be pruned in accordance with the season you are in. Rozanne will require various cuts in the spring, summer, and fall. To maintain your blooms rich and healthy, mark your calendar and adhere to our seasonal trimming recommendations.
What tools you need
Your geraniums may be pruned fairly easily. All you’ll need is the ability to prune, a pair of sharp pruners, your favorite mulch, and your favorite gardening gloves. Watch this video to learn more about pruning strategies in detail.
How to prune
You shouldn’t be concerned that pruning your flower’s back will harm her. The majority of hardy geraniums require trimming to promote new growth and prevent them from encroaching upon other plants.
Trim the plant back to within a few inches of the ground or to about an inch above the main stem once the flowering is completed or you find old growth. Remove any brown stems or yellow leaves after that by going inside.
Soon after trimming, more leaves will start to appear. Some resilient geraniums even have the ability to blossom again. Maintaining correct pruning on your plants encourages new development and keeps them from spilling out throughout your landscape.
What pruning advice do you prefer? Share them with us in a comment on our Facebook page!
Do geraniums grow back after the winter?
Geraniums have the advantage of easily entering dormancy, allowing for storage in a manner akin to that of sensitive bulbs. This method of storing geraniums for the winter entails digging the plant up in the fall and carefully removing the soil from the roots. The roots should not be spotless, just clear of dirt clumps.
In a room with a constant temperature of roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit, such as your garage or basement, hang the plants upside down (10 C.). Rehang the geranium plant after soaking the roots in water for an hour once a month. All of the leaves on the geranium will fall off, but the stems will still be alive. Replant the dormant geraniums in the ground in the spring, and they will come to life.
Can geraniums be kept in pots during the winter?
Geraniums can be overwintered inside in three different ways: as a houseplant, as a dormant bare root, or as cuttings. Your decision will be influenced by the amount of room you have indoors and the range of temperatures you can tolerate. Here is a closer examination of each method.
Overwintering geraniums as houseplants
If you want to keep the entire potted plant and have lots of room close to a window that gets bright, direct light, go with this option. A drafty west-facing window would be the ideal place for your potted geranium to spend the winter because geraniums prefer it chilly (55 to 65 F is optimum).
Wash the foliage well with your hose and repot the plant in new potting soil to prevent bringing unwanted pests from outside. You might also use insecticidal soap, which is sold in most garden centers and hardware stores as well as online. Avoid taking the plant indoors if it shows any signs of pests or illness. Only strong plants have a chance of successfully overwintering indoors.
During the winter, keep the soil wet but not damp. No more humidity is required. If the stems begin to sag, pinch them back to keep the plant compact throughout the winter. When springtime comes around, you may start fertilizing once more and transfer the plant back outside as soon as the temperature reliably rises above 50 F.
Overwintering geraniums as dormant bare root plants
This is the most typical way to overwinter geraniums, but it won’t work unless you have a dark, dry place that stays around 50 degrees throughout the winter.
First, dig up your geranium before it freezes and shake the dirt off the roots. To stop mold from forming, let the plant sit and dry for a few days before storage. Before moving onto the following phase, the roots must be completely dry.
The roots should be kept in a dark, dry place that doesn’t get colder than 45 degrees throughout the winter. Geranium roots should be kept at a temperature of 50 F. You can keep them by doing:
- It has been customary for generations to hang the plants upside-down from the rafters;
- placing them on a shelf after wrapping them in newspaper or a paper bag;
- they were put in a cardboard box.
Step 3: Every month or so, look for mold, black leaves, or limp stems at the roots. Remove any plant or root components that are harmful. Most of the stems should endure the winter in good shape. Before re-storing them if they become too wilted, give them a good bath in water and let them air dry.
Step 4: Reviving your geraniums involves cleaning them up, pruning the stems back to healthy green growth, and replanting them in new potting soil about six weeks before your final frost date. Where the new roots will grow, bury the stems two nodes deep. When you notice fresh growth in one to two weeks, keep the plants somewhat dry; after that, keep the soil moist until the plants are big enough to replant outside.
Overwintering geraniums as cuttings
If your light windowsill area is limited or you are concerned that bringing in your entire potted plant would also attract unwanted bugs, this is a nice technique to try. Additionally, it’s a fantastic way to multiply your existing geraniums.
To trim plants, you’ll need:
- a cutting edge.
- Most hardware stores and garden centers sell rooting hormone, which is sold online.
- Use little terracotta or plastic pots, or recycle a clear takeaway container for roasted chicken.
- If you don’t eat chicken, use clear plastic bags to cover the pans.
Are geraniums winter-resistant?
One of the most popular plants for containers and gardens is the geranium. Their vibrant hues and strong, well-shaped foliage are unmatched. Geraniums typically come in larger sizes in the garden center, which raises their price compared to other summer annuals.
Geraniums may be easily kept over the winter and enjoyed again the following year, unlike many of their competitors. Here’s how to overwinter your magnificent geraniums indoors if you don’t want to see them killed by frost this fall.
Methods of Overwintering Geraniums
Geraniums can be preserved in three different ways to endure the winter:
- inside in pots during the winter.
- Keep the naked, dormant roots.
- To create new plants, propagate cuttings.
Fall:
- Carefully dig out your geraniums before the first frost and pot them in 6- to 8-inch-diameter containers with lightweight potting soil. You can skip a step if yours are already in containers! Any that appear sick or diseased should be discarded.
- Reduce each plant by a third to a half. The cuttings should be saved and rooted to produce new geraniums.
- Give the pots plenty of water.
- Put the pots in a cool, well-lit area. Temperatures around 60 F in a sunny window are ideal for geranium overwintering. They struggle in dimly lit or hot environments.
Spring:
- Give your geraniums a mid-spring fertilization.
- When the threat of frost has gone, put them back outside. You have the option of leaving them in their containers or replanting them in your flowerbeds.
Overwintering Bare-Root Geraniums
Geraniums may endure winter dormancy if maintained above freezing since they have great thick roots and stems. Geraniums can also be stored as bare roots after going dormant. Take these actions:
- Carefully pull out your geraniums and shake all the soil off the roots before the first frost.
- To keep them, place them in unsealed paper bags or hang them upside-down in a cool, dry area at roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit (a garage is perfect).
- Pull out your geraniums every a month or so and give the roots an hour or so in water to soak.
- Then let them dry completely before re-storing.
- The stems should remain solid, but the leaves will eventually all fall off. The plant is probably doomed if the stems start to shrivel as well!
- Check your geraniums in the early spring.
- Eliminate any shriveled areas.
- Lightly prune them, removing any dead tips.
- Put the roots in water that has some plant food mixed in for a few hours.
- Place the roots in potting soil and give them plenty of water.
- Put your potted geraniums in a window that gets plenty of sun or beneath a grow light. It can take them a few weeks to awaken and begin to grow!
- You can bring them outside once all threat of frost has passed.
Propagating Geraniums From Cuttings
The final alternative is to let go of your original geraniums and take care of fresh ones that were propagated from cuttings. This is how:
- Cut off sections of the branches that are three to four inches long with a sharp knife or pair of shears. Instead of a side branch, the terminal end of the stem—the very tip end—produces the best cuttings.
- Remove any flower buds, and pinch off the leaves in the bottom third of the cutting.
- After removing the leaves, sprinkle the wounds where the cuttings were made with rooting hormone by dipping the bottom of each cutting in it.
- Each cutting should be planted with peat moss, sand, or perlite in the bottom third. You can grow them in trays or in individual pots (plastic planting trays are available with a clear cover to hold in moisture).
- Set the pots on a drainage tray and give them a thorough watering, ideally starting at the bottom (fill the tray with water and allow it to soak to keep from washing away the rooting hormone).
- Use the tray’s included cover or cover your pots with clear plastic.
- Place away from the sun in a sunny window. Although they require light, your clippings cannot withstand direct sunlight.
- By wetting the drainage tray, removing the plastic cover, or sprinkling the plants and soil with a fine mist, you may maintain the moisture level of the planting medium.
- In 6 to 8 weeks, your cuttings should begin to root. You can transfer them to their own pots with standard potting soil before the beginning of the next spring.
- Your new plants will branch out if you fertilize them and prune the new stems.
How can winter geraniums be kept alive?
Geraniums can live for the majority of the winter without soil, which sets them apart from most annual flowers. Due to their thick, succulent-like stems, geraniums may withstand prolonged periods of dryness if they are handled correctly to prevent illness.
How to Store Geraniums
- Before the first harsh cold of the season, remove the plant from its outdoor container and gently shake the soil from the roots.
- Reduce the plant by roughly 50%, taking care to remove any unhealthy-looking growths, flowers, or dead leaves.
- For the winter, pick a cool, dark spot, such as an unheated basement, garage, or shed. It is crucial that the temperature stay above 45 degrees F.
- The plant should be hung or put in paper bags. If you decide on using bags, don’t close them too tightly; you want some air to flow through them. When geraniums are overwintered, mold can grow on them. When hanging plants, The Spruce advises leaving enough space between them so that air can flow around them.
- Put tags (loosely) around the roots of your plants to identify them by color, or group them according to color while storing them.
Care for the Dormant Geraniums
- Take the plants out of the bags and give the roots a 1- to 2-hour soak in warm water. I’ve seen some professionals advise doing this once a month, while others advise doing it a few times during the winter. Before putting the plant back in the paper bag, give it time to completely dry. THIS IS ESSENTIAL.
- Even if the leaves are withering, check the geranium stems every two weeks to make sure they remain firm. You should discard any plants with withered stems right away. Anything with mold on it should be thrown away.
Reviving After Dormancy
- Trim any dead stem tips, and get rid of any roots that are too lengthy.
- Before potting, bare root plants can be given an extended soak in water to rehydrate the roots.
- Six weeks before the last frost, plant geraniums.
- When planting, bury the plant two leaf nodes deep in moist potting soil to encourage root development.
- Give them plenty of water.
- To reintroduce light and encourage fresh growth, place the newly planted geraniums in a sunny window. After inactive storage, it will probably take the plants 2-4 weeks before they begin to grow.
How long do geraniums in pots last?
My geraniums are no longer blooming. I fed them, but it was ineffective. What’s the issue?
You might be feeding them too much. Pelargoniums, a genus of geraniums native to the Mediterranean, flourish in full sunlight and relatively infertile soil. Overfeeding can be the issue if you have a lot of foliage growth and the plants appear healthy. For a while, stop giving them food. But if your plants are becoming older and their stems are getting lanky, it might be time to propagate. Although they can live much longer, geraniums typically only bloom for two years on average before becoming woody and losing their blooming ability. Thankfully, geranium propagation is simple. Simply cut stem tips with at least two pairs of healthy leaves from a four-inch stem. Cut the stem at the lowest point, dunk it in hormone rooting powder, and then plant it in a mixture of half sand and half peat moss. In around three weeks, repot in ordinary soil after providing adequate watering and covering with plastic to assist preserve moisture. Sticking the cutting in water and letting it grow roots before potting is a simpler method.