Daredevil®

Fire

Zonal Geranium

Pelargonium

zonale

Deadheading is necessary for continued blooming.

A yearly application of fertilizer or compost on garden beds and regular fertilization of plants in pots will help ensure the best possible performance.

There are couple ways to keep your geraniums through the winter, let's see what works best for you.

1. If you have a sun room or other VERY sunny window you can cut your geraniums back and bring them indoors to keep them through the winter. The window should have the brightest light, otherwise the plants will slowly decline from a lack of sun.

2. Another old trick is let you geraniums get very dry and then un-pot them and wash all the soil off the roots and allow them to dry down again, so they will be wilted but very dry. You can then dust the roots with a sulfur powder (acts to prevent fungus) and store them in brown paper bags in a cellar or other dry location. They will go dormant and in most cases survive just off the water in the plant when you store them.

In either case, next spring when you plant them and move them outside, you'll need to move them into the shade first so they can get readjusted to full sun, otherwise they may burn if you put them in full sun right away.

If either of these methods seems like too much work then just let them go down for the winter and buy new ones next year. New plants will usually start off with more vigor and get blooming faster than plants saved from the past year.