Pixietoadstool Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Hello,I am still waiting to find out if it is OK to leave geraniums in a barn without windows over winter. I posted on the previous thread about this but got no replies. I need to make the decision soon.Please tell me whether geraniums need some kind of light to survive the winter?(I know they won't survive freezing temperatures already through experience!).Thanks in anticipation etc.,Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Sorry Pix, not to have answered before, but please don't panic, unless you left on the ferry today. Are you here all year, or is it a holiday home? Have you got any potential places. We are looking into it, seriously.tresco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixietoadstool Posted October 19, 2004 Author Share Posted October 19, 2004 Hi Tresco (from the Scilly Isles? - one of my favourite places (not the one in Hampton Court though!)),Thanks for your kind consideration - no I haven't left on the ferry today but husband and son are going for half term on Friday and usually we bring in the geraniums and leave them under the velux windows in the kitchen and my son's bedroom when we're not there - this way they have mostly survived but taken up valuable space when we ARE there and have also been put outside (through lack of space) one New Year's Eve only to have been forgotten overnight and frozen outside!I was under the impression that geraniums and fuchsias WOULD die without light but I was just hopeful that they wouldn't - we have several outbuildings where they could be left which would save us the trouble of carting the troughs in and out every time we visited until the risk of frost is past. I know this sounds like I am being extremely anally retentive (oh OK I know I am!) but I was just trying to save us all a bit of flower-die heartache in 2005!!Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Sorry Pixie, know all about plant death heart-ache, but with Geraniums, apparently, they do need a bit of light to see them through. Come on Normandy gardeners, I am very happy to be corrected.Now, we had some in Wirral, which I admit is very mild, and we left them out in a very sheltered position all winter, did not look at them once, and we even had snow, and thick ice at one point. Is there any way/where you could bundle them up, leaving a gap for the light? I used to use all sorts of stuff in colder climes, (sheffield) scrunched up newspaper, dried atumn leaves, bubble wrap round pots. Have you any kind neighbours with a bit of perspex in their barn roof? I am worrying myself sick about your geraniums, Pix, let me know what you do.Yes, Tresco, Scilly Isles, have you been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tootles60 Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Geraniums and fuschia's can both be kept by cutting them down and putting in a box lined with newspaper then covered with a layer of compost and then put in a shed or garage.I used to keep mine in our back bedroom, but a friend gave me this tip and I have used it ever since, which reminds me I must do mine, we have had several cold nights recently and I really do not want to loose them. Once they start to shoot in the spring you can take cuttings of geraniums, put them in a pot around the edge and enclose the pot in a polybag until you see signs of them growing, do not use rooting powder, they hate it and will rot off. I test mine to see if they are rooting by gently putting them, if there is resistance then they are rooting ok.Fuschia's can also be propagated by taking cuttings, they will stand rooting compound, but I root mine in water in a glass, I use two old sherry glasses with either cling film or foil on the top, poke holes in for the stalks to go through, take off all the leaves bar the top set and push though the holes in the foil/clingfilm - once they show signs of a root I pot them up into small pots, start to pinch them out and pot on as they grow before putting them out for the summer, they will flower approx 8 weeks after they have last been pinched out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixietoadstool Posted October 20, 2004 Author Share Posted October 20, 2004 Many many thanks to the two Ts Tootles and Tresco!I will have a go at the newspaper/compost method and if they die well hey - at least I tried!It looks like it is going to be a very hard winter and so maybe Tresco's method might not work for us - the house is more than 1000 feet up in Normandy and does get pretty chilly - we get more ice and snow there than we ever do here in Hampshire.Thanks again!Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 [quote]Hello, I am still waiting to find out if it is OK to leave geraniums in a barn without windows over winter. I posted on the previous thread about this but got no replies. I need to make the decisio...[/quote]Frankly, Pixie, is it worth it? I think they may well survive, particularly the fuschias, with no light, but all you'll get in the spring are some horrible looking sticks and geraniums that may well have rotted to some extent. You will then need to cut them down completely and pot them all up in fresh compost. It will take weeks to get much in the way of decent growth and even longer to get flowers. Meanwhile, you french neighbour has popped down to the market at the first sign of a sunny days and bought some nice fresh plants at modest prices that give instant blooms.I used to go through this storage thing for geraniums and fuschias and concluded it wasn't worth the bother. I now have hardy fuschias that come up every year in the garden with no trouble and buy in bedding as I want it. I am generally not a fan of instant gardening as seen on TV but in this instance I go for the easy way.Liz (29) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_Gyn Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Whilst I agree with Liz that it's just as easy to buy new each year, it's certainly worth half an hour's effort and a few newspapers to save some - certainly if you are fond of the colours. You can always use them as a source of cuttings next year if they do survive.I remember reading in an old gardening book that in the country houses the gardeners used to de-pot and dry them off for a week or two, then bury them in pits covered with peat.paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixietoadstool Posted October 22, 2004 Author Share Posted October 22, 2004 Thanks everyone for your help. I duly dispatched son and husband this morning on their trip to Normandy with the box/newspaper/compost instructions. I hope it works - I particularly love the shocking pink colours and I have found that if I can keep them going for the next year they certainly flower stronger, bigger and longer than shop bought varieties.Now sitting here all on my lonesome missing my men and thinking of all the hard work I have to do here in blighty (otherwise I'd be with them!). Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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