People fuss a lot over geraniums – or more properly, “Pelargoniums” (since true geraniums are actually quite different than these popular garden flowers).
They’re not frost hardy, so they need to be brought inside for the winter. Every gardener seems to have a favorite method for dealing with them. Some people dig them up, shake the dirt off the roots and store them in paper bags or newspaper. Others take cuttings and root these in soil, then throw out the original plants; the following spring, they move the new plants to the garden. Variations on these themes abound.
As for me, I take the easy way. My geraniums never make it to the garden: instead they live, permanently, in large containers which grace the steps on the south side of our house from May through September. In October I drag the pots into the solarium, a bright, unheated room which gets good winter light, and there they live until the following spring.
I always intend to cut them back when I bring them inside, as soon as their flowering ends – but it never does! Most years they carry on blooming right through the winter, and I can`t bring myself to take out the pruning shears.
Finally, come February, I am forced to take action – otherwise the new growth will be far too leggy. I cut off the flowers and prune the plants down to a small fraction of their former height, give them a good drink of water with some fertilizer, add a layer of fresh potting soil, then trust Mother Nature to do the rest.
And for a few days we get to enjoy those lovely blooms in a vase: a welcome foretaste of summer’s luscious colours.