Starting up overwintered plants. 3.8.15

Overwintered geraniums - dry.   3.8.15

Geraniums cleaned up.  3.8.15

 I took the planter box of geraniums, out of the garage.  These were overwintered without water since about early November.  There is some lanky growth. 

I pruned off the dead leaves and some of the lanky stems.  Watered.  It's now on the deck next to the house.  They should make a comeback in a dew weeks.


Meanwhile, the geraniums I overwintered in the sunroom bloomed for most of the winter. 

The advantages of overwintering geraniums are:
*After the first purchase, subsequent years are free.
*There are usually some stems for cuttings.   Geraniums are easy to start cuttings in a glass of water.
*The resultant plants are much bigger than bedding plants at the big box store.  They can be a sizable shrub in a few years.  Very colorful.

The disadvantages:
*They don't look good, for a few weeks.
*Sometimes they don't survive.  But they usually do.
*You need a place that is dry and frost free to store them dry.  Or, a sunny place to keep them growing.

Geraniums overwintered in sunroom.  3.8.15