Geraniums are one of the most popular container and garden plants. You just can’t beat their bright colors and sturdy, well-shaped foliage. At the garden center, geraniums tend to come in larger sizes, which make them more expensive than other summer annuals.

Unlike many of their peers, geraniums can easily be stored over the winter and enjoyed again next year. So if you hate to see your lovely geraniums killed by frost this fall, here’s how to go about overwintering them indoors.

Methods of Overwintering Geraniums

There are three ways to make geraniums last through the winter:

1. Overwinter inside as potted plants.
2. Store the dormant, bare roots.
3. Propagate cuttings to make new plants.

Geraniums as Indoor Potted Plants

The easiest way to keep your geraniums over the winter is simply to bring them inside. Here’s how to go about it:

Fall:

• Before the first frost, carefully dig up your geraniums and pot them in 6”- 8” diameter containers, with lightweight potting soil. If yours are already in containers, you get to save a step! Don’t bother keeping any that look unhealthy or diseased.
• Cut the plants back by a third to a half. Save the cuttings and root them to make more geraniums!
• Water the pots thoroughly.
• Place the pots in a bright, cool spot. Geraniums overwinter best in a sunny window with temperatures around 60° F. They don’t do well in dark or overheated rooms.

Winter:

• Over the winter, pinch back the tips of new shoots to help them branch out.
• Water the cuttings whenever the soil becomes dry.

Spring:

• Fertilize your geraniums in mid-spring.
• Move them back outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. You can keep them in their containers, or plant them back in your flower beds.

Geraniums are perfect for window boxes, but can’t survive freezing weather.

Overwintering Bare-Root Geraniums

Geraniums have nice thick roots and stems that allow them to survive winter dormancy if kept above freezing. You can also allow geraniums to go dormant and store them as bare roots. Follow these steps:

Fall:

• Before the first frost, carefully dig up your geraniums, and shake all the dirt off the roots.
• Put them in unsealed paper bags, or hang them upside down, and store in a cool, dry place around 50° F (a garage is perfect).

Winter:

• Every month or so, pull your geraniums out and soak the roots in water for a couple of hours.
• Allow them to dry before storing again.
• The leaves will eventually all fall off, but the stems should stay firm. If the stems shrivel up too, the plant is likely a goner!

Spring:

• Inspect your geraniums early in the spring.
• Remove any shriveled sections.
• prune them lightly, cutting off any dead tips.
• Soak the roots for a few hours in water mixed with a little plant food.
• Plant the roots in potting soil and water thoroughly.
• Place your potted geraniums in a sunny window, or under a grow light. They might take a few weeks to wake up and start growing!
• After all danger of frost has passed, you can move them outdoors.

Geraniums can also be rooted from cutting using rooting hormone.

Propagating Geraniums From Cuttings

The last option is to say goodbye to your original geraniums and nurture new ones grown from cuttings. Here’s how:

Fall:

• Using a sharp knife or shears, cut pieces about 3”- 4” long from the ends of the branches. The best cuttings come from the terminal end (the very tip end of the stem), rather than a side branch.
• Pinch off the leaves from the bottom third of the cutting, and remove any flower buds.
• Dip the bottom of each cutting in rooting hormone, making sure to dust the wounds where you removed the leaves.
• Plant the bottom third of each cutting in peat moss, sand, or perlite. You can use individual pots or plant them together in a tray (plastic planting trays are available with a clear cover to hold in moisture).
• Place the pots on a drainage tray and water thoroughly, ideally from the bottom up (fill the tray with water and allow it to soak to keep from washing away the rooting hormone).
• Cover your pots with clear plastic, or use the cover that came with the tray.
• Place in a bright window out of direct sun. Your cuttings need light, but they can’t handle the direct sunshine.

Winter:

• Keep the planting medium moist by soaking in the drainage tray, or removing the plastic cover and lightly misting the plants and soil.

Spring:

• Your cuttings should root in 6 to 8 weeks. By early next spring, you can to move them to their own pots with regular potting soil.
• Fertilize your new plants, and pinch back the new stems in order to make them branch out.
• Move the pots to a sunny window until time to plant them outdoors.

Further Information

• Outdoor-Indoor Geranium Culture (University of Minnesota Extension)
• Geranium Culture for Home Gardeners (North Carolina State Extension)
• International Geranium Society

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• Can I Plant Trees and Shrubs in Late Fall or Winter?
• How to Help Houseplants Cope With Winter
• Tips on Bringing Houseplants Indoors for the Winter

Window boxes can be difficult to maintain in the winter. For a little something different this fall, try these easy and budget-friendly window boxes – I spotted this one on one of my walks. A simple but colorful ornamental kale is planted in the center, surrounded by bright gourds and multicolored corn. A few strands of vinca trail over the sides to give dimension and softness to the box. And to bring it all together, a raffia bow puts the finishing touch on the harvest theme!

Explore the many varieties of ornamental cabbage and kale at your local garden center. They’ll stay pretty well into winter and will even get more colorful after a few chilly nights.

For the harvest veggies, try your local farmer’s market or pumpkin patch (or even the grocery store). Or, for a perennial treat, you could pick up gourds made of plastic or resin to re-use next year! For the trailing plants, try periwinkle (vinca), ivy, creeping euonymus, or anything else you have on hand in your yard.

Other suggestions include:

• For a larger box, tuck in a few mums or asters for a burst of blooms.
• Add a sheaf of cornstalks for height.
• Don’t forget dried flowers. As you clean up your perennial garden, save some dried cuttings for your window boxes. Yarrow, sedum, black-eyed susans, and crape myrtle all have interesting texture and seed heads.
• Pick kales and cabbages with red and green tones. Then in December you can simply replace the gourds with greenery and berries for the holidays.

A “spill pot” brings a playful touch to your garden – and it’s also a great way to recycle cracked or broken flower pots! All you need is a flower pot, some potting soil, and a few summer bedding plants.

It’s is a fun way to use up those last few plants after filling your other containers or beds – about 5-6 small bedding plants should work nicely. You can make a spill pot in just a few easy steps:

1. Loosen the dirt in an area about one foot wide and two feet long.
2. Add potting soil or compost to the entire area, to enrich the soil and hold in moisture.
3. Bury your pot about halfway in the soil, making sure the broken part is hidden.
4. Plant your flowers in the garden soil, but tuck a couple of plants inside the rim of the pot, to give the appearance of spilling out.
5. Care for them as you would any other garden annuals, with regular water and an occasional dose of balanced organic fertilizer.

The large, colorful blossoms of Hibiscus (Hibiscus sp.) create an eye-catching display during summer, attracting hummingbirds and butterflies and providing the look of a tropical paradise, no matter what the variety. Hibiscus plants are members of the Mallow family, and there are many different species that are used in gardening, agriculture, and manufacturing.

To grow hibiscus in your home garden, it’s important to know the three main types of plants:

• Tropical hibiscus
• Hardy perennial hibiscus
• Hardy shrub hibiscus

Here are some tips for growing and caring for all three.

Tropical Hibiscus

With its sturdy shape and colorful blossoms, tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) is a popular choice for container plants and tropical gardens. It grows as a small shrub or tree, with stiff woody stems and thick, glossy, dark green leaves.

Blossoms are usually 3”- 6” in diameter and come in many different colors and varieties including red, orange, yellow, salmon-pink, multicolored, and even double blossoms.

How to Grow Tropical Hibiscus

• Climate: Can be grown year round in zones 9-10 but will not survive frost or heavy freeze. Cooler zones (8 and lower) usually grow it as an annual, or in containers that can be brought indoors during cold weather.
• Light: Full sun.
• Soil: Rich and well-draining. Container-grown plants are often grown in a soilless potting medium to prevent compaction. Keep moist, but don’t let it stand in water.
• Fertilizer: Tropical hibiscus blooms on new growth, so it benefits from regular feeding with a balanced, organic, liquid fertilizer.
• Flowers: Blooms spring through fall, but flowering may slow in the heat of midsummer.

To keep your tropical hibiscus over the winter, bring it indoors before night temperatures fall into the 40s F. Keep in a cool, bright spot (55°-70° F). Reduce, but don’t discontinue, watering. Your plant may lose some leaves as it adjusts to the change.

A few weeks before moving outdoors in the spring, give your hibiscus a rather heavy pruning – shortening leggy stems and removing rubbing branches. Remove the top couple of inches of soil and replace with fresh compost. Add some organic fertilizer, and your plant will be well on its way to a spring growth spurt!

Some varieties of tropical hibiscus overwinter better than others. If yours doesn’t bloom well the second year, you may want to consider replacing it.

Hardy Perennial Hibiscus

If you look at your local garden center for winter-hardy hibiscus, chances are you’ll find the enormous dinner-plate-sized blossoms of Hibiscus moscheutos. Commonly called Rose Mallow or Swamp Mallow, this plant is an herbaceous perennial, which means it will die completely back to the ground in the winter then sprout anew in the spring.

Compared to tropical hibiscus, the stems and heart-shaped leaves of hardy hibiscus are much softer, dull green, and tender. Blossoms are usually flat and large and the texture of tissue paper. They are available in colors of red, pink, and white.

How to Grow Hardy Perennial Hibiscus

• Climate: Hardy to Zone 4. Does not transplant very well, so choose your location carefully.
• Light: Full Sun.
• Soil: Well-draining and rich. Loves water and should remain moist in summer. Grows naturally near ditches and swamps. During the winter, however, the roots should not be soggy. Add mulch to hold in moisture and prevent damage from late spring frosts.
• Fertilizer: Hardy hibiscus is a heavy feeder. Organic fertilizers with plenty of phosphorus will encourage blooms.
• Flowers: Blooms in July and August. Each flower is short-lived, but there are plenty more to come.

In the fall or late winter, cut back the dead stems of hardy hibiscus to near ground level. Compared to other perennials, this plant can be a little late to sprout in the spring, but by midsummer it will be sprawling several feet high. Stake long stems if needed.

In addition to Hibiscus moscheutos, other perennial hibiscus species include the slender petals of Scarlet Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) and the ruffled pink blossoms of Confederate Rose (Hibiscus mutabilis). If you live near water, try growing the marsh-loving Giant Rose Mallow (Hibiscus grandiflora).

Hardy Hibiscus Shrubs: Althea or Rose of Sharon

Last, but certainly not least, we come to the larger shrubs and trees known more commonly as Althea or Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus). These carefree plants brighten up any landscape and are a must-have for hummingbird and butterfly gardens. The blooms are smaller than its tropical cousin, but it has a sustained, prolific bloom period in mid to late summer.

Hibiscus syriacus is a deciduous shrub or small tree, growing up to 10 feet tall and wide, with dark green foliage and flowers in shades of pink, blue, lavender, and white.

How to Grow Hardy Hibiscus Shrubs

• Climate: Grown in zones 5-9. Used as a border or specimen shrub. Loses its leaves in winter. Upright shape, fairly dense, with a coarse texture.
• Light: Full sun, with a little afternoon shade in hotter climates.
• Soil: Rich and well-draining, although it’s pretty adaptable to a range of growing conditions.
• Fertilizer: Average water and nutrient needs. Generally carefree.
• Flowers: A rapid grower that can be pruned heavily in the early spring to encourage larger blossoms. May self-seed and sprout around the base.

White Althea

Further Information

The website floridata.com has excellent specific growing instructions for many varieties of hardy hibiscus including:

• Scarlet Hibiscus
• Confederate Rose
• Swamp Rose Mallow

More information about the many varieties of tropical hibiscus can be found at www.trop-hibiscus.com.

Related posts:

• How to Grow Hydrangeas
• How to Grow Peonies
• How to Grow Daylilies

As the summer heats up, consider adding some tropical plants to your garden for a splash of luxury. The large, waving foliage and lush growth habits add a cool, inviting touch, and the plants themselves are naturally tolerant of the heat and humidity of summer. Gardeners in sub-tropical or non-tropical regions have to be a little more careful with these plants as temperatures cool, but any garden can enjoy the beauty of a tropical paradise.

Choosing Outdoor Tropical Plants

• Give your houseplants an outdoor vacation! Palms, philodendron, peace lilies, ferns, and other houseplants will thrive in a sheltered location outdoors for the summer.
• Tender tropical bulbs, such as elephant ear, taro, and amaryllis, are great choices for summer gardens. These plants go dormant for the winter, and the bulbs can be dug up and stored to be replanted year after year. Check out our article How to Store Tender Bulbs Over the Winter to find out how.
• Consider the tropical plants that are commonly sold as annuals in cooler climates. Caladiums, mandevilla, and tropical hibiscus can be overwintered or purchased fresh each year.

Designing with Tropical Plants Outdoors

• Create containers of tropical plants that can be easily grouped or moved around for parties or during weather changes. In the fall, you can simply bring the pots indoors, or take cuttings from them to root for next year.
• Add some hanging houseplants to your porch or covered patio.
• For a more tucked-in look, bury the tropical plant pot up to the rim in your planting bed. Add some mulch, and your landscape looks seamless! In the fall, it will be easy to pull up the pots for winter storage indoors.
• Over the winter, tropical houseplants will need to be stored at temperatures over 55° F—a sun porch or decorative indoor location is great. Dormant bulbs and roots will need cooler temperatures in the 40s—a garage, shed, or basement can provide this.
• Give a tropical touch to any garden with ordinary, hardy garden plants. Choose plants with large leaves, plants with palm or fern-like foliage, and plants with large, colorful blooms. Hardy hibiscus and perennial ferns give a tropical feel without special care.

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• When to Plant Gladiolus
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Growing flowers in pots is a very satisfying way to brighten up your porch or yard, and it’s a great way to get started with gardening. Here’s everything you need to know to get going.

The container itself is part of the design.

Shopping List

Here’s what you’ll need to get started planting containers.

• A flower pot with drainage holes in the bottom: There are all sorts of materials available – pick what you like in a size you can handle (remember that it will be heavy when filled with soil and watered!). Water must be able to drain out, or your plants will drown. If you want to use a decorative planter that doesn’t have drainage holes, plant your flowers in an inexpensive pot that does drain, and sit it in the planter on top of a little gravel.
• A bag of potting mix for containers: Potting mix is lightweight and rich in nutrients, and some kinds have fertilizer already mixed in. Don’t use soil from your yard – it’s too heavy.
• Gravel, broken pottery, stones, or packing peanuts: Put in the bottom of the pot to keep the soil from washing out.
• All-purpose plant food: Optional.
• Flowering Plants: The most important part!

Purple angelonia, white portulaca, and yellow coreopsis provide contrast.

Choosing Flowers

The best flowers for containers can be found in the “annual” or “bedding plants” section of the garden center. While they only live one summer, they’ll bloom the entire season. Other flowering plants (such as perennials, bulbs, and shrubs) may be blooming beautifully right now, but the flowers will be gone in a few weeks. Read the labels to be sure your chosen spot offers the right light and temperature conditions for the plants.

Some popular container plants include:

                Marigolds

• African daisies
• Angelonia
• Begonias
• Ferns
• Geraniums
• Gerbera daisies
• Herbs
• Impatiens
• Ivy
• Marigolds
• Perennials (ivy, coreopsis, or grasses)
• Petunias
• Portulaca
• Sweet potato vine
• Verbena
• Vinca
• Zinnias

Container Design

Here are some ideas for designing your container:

      New Guinea Impatiens

• Single Accent: Fill a container with the same type of flower for a bright pop of solid color. A pot full of red geraniums is always a cheerful option for a sunny spot, or pink impatiens for a shady porch, or trailing petunias flowing out of a hanging basket. Another option is to choose just one large plant, such as Boston fern or tropical hibiscus, for a more formal look. Larger plants often come pre-planted and ready to enjoy.

            Portulaca mix

• Multicolor: You can also put several different varieties and colors of the same plant together. This gives you more color while keeping a fairly uniform shape and texture. Some plants (such as zinnias, portulaca, impatiens, and petunias) even come packaged as a “mix,” with a variety of different colors in the same tray. Be sure you can tell what colors you’re getting, so you can distribute them evenly in the container.

  Spikes or grasses add height

• Mixed: If you’re feeling more adventurous, try a mixed container. A well-planned mixed container has varieties of height and color. If you’ve never put together a mixed planter, you can’t go wrong with this basic formula: tall plants for height, bushy ones for width, and trailing plants that spill over the edges. Most any annual flowers can be planted together in the same pot, so be creative! Choose colors and textures you like that compliment each other.

Buying Plants

You’ll need enough plants to fill the container, with a couple of inches between them. Plants come in different sizes, and while smaller plants will take longer to fill out, any size is fine.

Begonias are a popular choice for containers.

How to Plant Containers

Now it’s time for the fun part – planting your flowers!

• Start by putting about an inch of gravel or stones in the bottom of the pot, then fill the pot about two-thirds full with potting mix.
• Sit the plants in the container and decide on your arrangement. You can either do a round design (tallest plants in the center and shorter or trailing plants around the edges), or a front-facing design (tall plants in back and shorter ones in front).



• Gently remove your plants from their pots. If the plant is stuck, squeeze the pot a little to help push it out – never yank on the stem. Disturb the roots as little as possible, but if they are a hard-packed ball you can loosen them a little with your fingers. Then nestle the plants in the soil, keeping an eye on the depth to make sure they will be planted at the same level they were in their original pot.

• Add soil between the plants, firming it gently with your fingers. Be careful not to press hard enough to break the plants.
• Make sure everything is at the same level with no roots showing.
• Move your container to its chosen spot, and water the plant thoroughly until water runs out the bottom.
• Now, step back and admire your handiwork!

Caring for Containers

• Water your container every 2-3 days. In the heat of summer, you may need to water it every day.
• If you want to feed your plants, use an all-purpose or bloom-boosting plant food every couple of weeks according to package instructions.
• As you water, remove spent blooms to encourage more blooming – a practice called deadheading. Don’t just pull off the dead petals – actually pinch off the little stem beneath the flower.
• If your plants are looking spindly, pinch off the tips of the stems to stimulate them to produce more branches.

A single large tropical hibiscus makes a dramatic container plant.

Related posts:

• Perennial Flower Garden Basics

If you don’t have any other visible evidence of disease or infestation (such as discoloration of leaves, curled leaves, spots, or the like), it sounds like something is simply eating the leaves. Likely culprits are caterpillars, slugs, or beetles. All three should be visible to the naked eye by inspecting your plant at various times of the day (including after dark to catch slugs on the move).

Control measures include hand-picking, baiting/trapping, natural repellents, bacterial poisons, insect predators, or application of pesticide sprays, pellets, or powders. Once you’ve identified your culprit, you can choose a product or control method to target it.

Dispensing tiny seeds for planting can be a tedious task. To pick up small seeds individually, dip a flathead toothpick in water and touch the tip to one of the seeds. Poke a hole in soil of the planting tray, transfer the seed to it, then close the hole up around it.

Related posts:

• How to Plant a Fall Vegetable Garden

To grow new African violets, use a sterile knife and cut off a healthy leaf as near the base as possible. Dip the stem in rooting hormone then push it through a piece of paper and place the stem in water until it develops roots.

Related posts:

• African Violets: To Fuss, or Not to Fuss?
• How to Grow Geraniums Over the Winter