How to Keep Your Geraniums Over Winter (Its Easy & Frugal)
Geraniums are one of the most popular annual flowers and one of the easiest to grow. Zonal Geraniums (pelargonium) are big and beautiful and can cost anywhere from $3 - $5 a piece for one 4” plant. If you buy a lot of them, that can really add up. Did you know you can overwinter your Geraniums even in colder gardening zones?
I'm in Minnesota (that's Zone 4 in the gardening world) and I've been keeping my Geraniums over winter the past few years. No, you won't have scraggly, ugly plants sitting in your window all winter. This method takes up barely any space at all. Plus, you don't even have to be a Gardener or have a "green thumb" to overwinter Geraniums.
First, simply pull the geraniums (before frost gets them), shake as much dirt off the roots as possible and lay them out on a newspaper in the sun to dry a bit. We want to leave them in the sun long enough so they are not damp when we store them and so they get moldy.
Once the plants are fairly dry, put them in a paper bag and hang them in your basement, or garage. They need to be in a dark room where temps are between 45 and 55 degrees.
Sometime in the first few weeks of March, pull your geraniums out of storage. Trim all the plants down to about 2 or 3 inches. This is messy, so I like to do this outside if the weather cooperates.
Next, pot up the plants in a good potting mix. I use one with no fertilizer. Once your plants are all potted up, give them a long slow drink. I use a weak mix of water soluble fertilizer in the water.
At first it will look like you're planting dead sticks, but before you know it, you'll start seeing little bits of green popping out and within 3 or 4 weeks, your geraniums will look like this. And, in a few more weeks they'll be blooming.
What do you think? Sounds pretty easy, right. I encourage you to go ahead and try overwintering your Geraniums this Fall.
I have a handy checklist with the instructions that you can print off and keep in your bag of overwintered geraniums that will remind you what to do when you get them out of storage in the spring. You can read more about overwintering Geraniums and get your instruction list here: How to Keep Geraniums Over Winter.
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I live in Southern California and leave my plants outside year round. They bloom year round too. If the forecast is for freezing temps I cover everything with sheets and bring some of the potted plants in close to the house. Works great.
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Inspiring! I have lots of getaniums in my garden & i would probably do this to keep them this coming winter😊
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I winter mine inside under a big window, I have had them 4 or 5 yrs now. They are doing great.
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I so wish I had room to do that and be able to enjoy them during the dreary winter. Happy fall!
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Frequently asked questions
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We live in So Texas and the garage rarely gets under 65 all year long. My Geraniums are getting a bit scraggly now. Can they be stored in a warmer garage?
Will this work with Begonias
Is there some tips we should follow in growing Houseplants--Shamrocks....the deep bergundy ones??? before we moved the plant was in full glory and now in another town... still North window... it wants to fall flat. I stopped fertilizing for the witter---would that be the problem???