The trick to overwintering geraniums: all you need is a paper bag

Although geraniums (botanical name “Pelargoniums”) are hardy and easy to care for, you need to take special care of them during the winter so that they bloom beautifully during the summer season.

With abundant flowering and a fabulous color palette, geraniums are very popular in homes. They begin to bloom in February and decorate our balconies in the most beautiful way. They are still enjoyed in the fall, but these flowers must hibernate during the cold period, because they are not resistant to frost or snow. How to protect them so they survive the cold of winter? Follow the guide.

How to preserve geraniums in pots during the winter?

Geraniums are beautiful and colorful perennial plants that adorn gardens, but also terraces and balconies. In winter, it is important to properly care for them to help them bloom in the spring. There are several ways to overwinter geraniums. With newspaper, cardboard box, paper bag or sunny windowsill, you can easily store them. Protected in this way, these flowers will be able to maintain their freshness and bloom abundantly during the warm season.

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A simple change of location will do. Move them to a room where it is cool enough (about 10°C) but light enough. If you have enough space, take your pots home and place them on a medium-sized windowsill. Make sure the living conditions are optimal: each pot of geraniums should benefit from the same brightness and water them every 3 or 4 weeks.

Little advice for safe wintering

Have you ever considered overwintering your plants in a paper bag? This method is quite unknown, but the results are very surprising. As a bonus, your geraniums will take up less space, since this trick requires them to be removed from their pots. Once wrapped and secured in the paper bag, you should set them up in a cool, but not necessarily sunny, room. Your flowers can overwinter in the garage or basement (the temperature should be between 5 to 10 ° C). Instead of a paper bag, you can use a cardboard box. On the maintenance side, simply place the roots in water several times during the winter and check for mold.

NB : It is better to pack the roots so that they are not exposed and do not dry out.

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How to overwinter pelargonium seedlings?

As noted, geranium is a subtropical flowering plant that does not tolerate too cold temperatures and does not tolerate frost at all. But in fact, you have a choice: either you opt for full wintering where your plants will be dormant, or you plant seedlings indoors.

Here’s how: cut the shoots in the fall. Plant them one by one in pots where they will take root and show their first shoots in spring. Otherwise, you can also put the sprouts in a container of water, which you will place on the windowsill in a warm room. Be sure to replace the water weekly. Once the seedlings take root, you can plant them in the ground as early as early spring, when they will begin to bloom.