On Monday’s Behind the Scenes I shared that I had recently learned that you can bring your garden geraniums in for the winter. So many people responded with delight that I thought I’d do a bit of research and share more about how you can bring your summer beauties in for the winter.

This gardening adventure started with reading Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. In one little sentence, May mentions bringing her geraniums in for the winter. I stopped in my tracks. “You can do that?” Every year I buy friendly, beautiful red geraniums for our little front garden. I’d be delighted to enjoy their beauty again – maybe even all year long!

So, the first thing I did was go grab a big clay pot from the basement and dig one of these beauties up. I shook away most of the soil (and hopefully any potential little friends) and repotted with some fresh potting soil. I didn’t do any research. I just thought I’d give it a go. I left her outside for a couple of days so the change wasn’t too drastic. Then I brought her into the kitchen, which tends to stay cool, and on Monday I brought her into the studio. So far, so good.

Now, it turns out there are a few approaches that you can take to keeping your geraniums and I’ve found some videos that help with the basics.

Bringing Geraniums In to Enjoy for the Winter

This demonstrates and affirms my simple approach of moving your plant from the garden to the container. I’ve taken this approach with one of my geraniums so that I can enjoy it all year. I only have one room with enough light to sustain this beauty and so I may try a different approach to the others.

Overwintering & Cutting Back Your Geraniums

Ouch! I had read about how much you have to cut back your geraniums to prep them for overwintering but wow! This video helped me feel confident in how much to cut and how to do it well. I’m a bit hesitant to do this because I want to get as much enjoyment out of the plant as I can. If my continuing research is right, you can leave the cutting back until late winter, when the plants are getting a bit leggy anyway, and then they’ll be ready for the spring. I’m leaning towards that approach. And heck… if you’re going to cut, why not make cuttings?

Taking Geranium Cuttings

As I looked through videos for how to take geranium cuttings, there were rather a lot of different opinions! I shared the one that included the most complete information from someone who is clearly expert at dealing with this particular plant. However, I did find this next one did the best job at demonstrating how to actually cut and prep your geranium cuttings.

 

I’ve been feeling a little sad about gardening season coming to a close. Bringing these plants into the studio and considering making cuttings for the first time, leaves me excited to be on the next gardening adventure! I hope you’ll join me in exploring ways to keep our garden love alive all year long.