THE GARDEN WEBSITE.COM
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Grub Control
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
  • Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
  • Garden Club Events

Amanda's Blog

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company

Saving geraniums, coleus, bougainvillea & other tender plants

20/9/2017

0 Comments

 
overwintering geraniums,storing Pelargoniums,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.com
I use my geraniums as houseplants during the winter.
houseplant geraniums,overwintering Pelargoniums,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.comPlace geraniums and other tender tropicals, in front on a sunny window or under grow lights.
Bring houseplants and tropical plants (tuberous begonias, fuchsias, geraniums, angel trumpets (Brugmansia, Datura), bougainvilleas, coleus) in September that have been vacationing outside, inside - as their vacation is over. Fetch them in now while they are still looking good. If you wait too long they are overcome with diseases and insects and often fail to survive.

There are three ways to overwinter plants: overwinter as houseplants, place them in dormancy, or take cuttings.  The type of plant determines how to overwinter them.

I have to warn you that bringing in plants from the outside is a bit messy. They drop their leaves and flowers in protest to the new environment, but after the initial shock, most should sport new growth in no time. Before you bring them in, wipe down their pots and drainage trays with soapy water; remove dead and infected plant parts, flowers, flower buds, weeds and debris from the soil surface and any free loading slugs and bugs. It is not necessary to repot the plants, but if you do, use potting soil, not garden soil as it contains pathogens. Cut back each stem by a half to a third. Propagate those cut stems if you wish to make more plants, as they will make great cuttings.

Wash the plants with dish washing liquid in lukewarm water by squeezing a soapy sponge all over them. You can also spray them with soapy water but make sure you get every nook and cranny. For small plants, dip them upside down in a bucket or sink full of soapy water. Allow them to drip dry. Quarantine these new plants from other houseplants as also from each other so any bugs or diseases don’t spread.

Once plants are cleaned up, move them to a bright sunny window or under grow light. Use a timer to keep the light on for 8 to 12 hours. Water plants with lukewarm water thoroughly wetting the soil. Water again when the top ½ inch of soil is dry to the touch.

If plants grow but are leggy, weak and pale they are not receiving adequate light. If plants become mottled, pale and dusty with wee spider webs, water more often as spider mites love dry soil. Get a magnifying glass and look under the foliage for tiny spiders. Wash the plant with a soapy sponge or dunk into a bucket or of lukewarm soapy water.

Brugmansia,angel trumpet,overwintering angel trumpet, houseplants,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.com
Although angel trumpet plants make beautiful houseplants, all parts are poisonous.
coleus,houseplants, overwintering Plectranthus scutellarioides, Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.com
Coleus make really good houseplants all year long.
bougainvillea,overwintering bougainvillea,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.com
Save bougainvilleas by bringing them inside and putting them in front of a sunny window.
datura,houseplant,overwintering,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.com
A Datura has beautiful flowers and makes a great houseplant, but all parts are poisonous.

geraniums,overwintering Pelargoniums,Amanda Jarrett,thegardenwebsite.comThis planter of geraniums is 5 years old and still growing strong.
Storing Geraniums
For geraniums planted directly in the ground, dig them up and shake off as much soil as possible. Use a good draining potting soil. Add sand and/or vermiculite to aid in drainage if it’s too peaty. Hang them upside down or place them in paper bags and place in a cool, dry, frost free area. Mist their roots weekly. All their leaves will fall off, but their stems should remain intact. In late February or in March, remove any dead parts, shriveled sections and discard any dead plants. Soak their roots for a few hours before potting them up. Water after planting then place in a bright location for a week. Once new growth emerges place them in full sun and allow soil to dry slightly before watering as they rot in wet soil. 


​Tender Fuchsias: Save fuchsias by bringing them inside or bury them outside. Keeping them outside during the winter depends on how far north you live. If you live in cooler zones from 1 to 6, bring them inside. Store in a cool dry place, 4-7°C (45-55°F) - a basement works well. Water every 3 to 4 weeks to moisten the soil, but don’t soak it. 
overwintering fuchsias,storing fuchsias,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Save fuchsias either by treating them as houseplants or bury them in the garden.
​To overwinter fuchsias outside, bury them in the garden, pot and all.  Cover them with 3 to 4 inches of soil, fallen leaves or another mulch and mark the location with a stake. Dig them up in spring after the danger of frost has passed. Although they may appear dead, they should sport some new growth once unearthed, watered and given light. Wipe off the pots, water and place in a sunny location away from frost. When new growth emerges repot them into the same pot with fresh potting soil or a bigger pot if needed. Mix in a slow release fertilizer and bone meal, according to the manufacture's instructions. Water and keep them away from any lingering frost.

Plants suited for Winter Dormancy

overwintering tuberous begonias,storing tuberous begonias,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Bring in your tuberous begonias before frost.
overwintering tuberous begonias,storing tuberous begonias,,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Keep tuberous begonias in a frost free location and keep soil dry, but not bone dry.
​Tuberous Begonias: Keep potted ones in their containers and lift those in the garden. Plant each tuber in pots slightly wider than the tuber. Bring them inside and place in a bright window and water. Their leaves will soon yellow and their flowers will soon drop off so be prepared for a mess. When this happens, cut all the stems back and place in a dry, frost free location. Allow the soil to dry, but not so dry it pulls away from the pot. Water them in spring when they start to regrow, repot in fresh, well-draining potting soil, water and place in a sunny window. Once they are hardened off and the danger of frost has passed, place outside in a partial sunny location. 

overwintering cannas,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Cannas can be stored and saved overwinter when grown in cold climates.
​Overwinter through dormancy: .
Some plants such as cannas, tuberous begonias, gladiolus, dahlias, ginger, sweet potato vine, elephant ears (Colocasia, Alocasia) and caladiums, can’t tolerate northern winters and they also require a dormant period. Allow them to be nipped by frost before bringing them inside. This gives them time to send their food and water to their roots. There’s no need to repot potted plants. Just clean the pots and plants with soap and water and place in a cool, frost free, dark location. Keep the soil dry, but don’t allow it to dry out too much that the soil is pulling away from the pot.

For those pot-less plants that where dug up from the garden, allow them to dry for a few days. Remove any excess soil then place in cardboard boxes, pillow cases or paper bags and avoid plastic tubs or bags as it promotes rotting. Dust the bulbs with cinnamon to prevent fungi, then cover with vermiculite, perlite, peat or potting soil. Place in a frost free location. Check them monthly and remove any rotting ones and add moisten if they are shriveling.

Taking Cuttings 

There are many plants including annuals that are easy to propagate as cuttings and you can keep them inside as houseplants until spring, where you can plant them outside. These plants include impatiens, coleus, geraniums (Pelargoniums), sweet potato vine, wax (fibrous begonias) and most bedding plants (annuals).

Take cuttings from healthy plants, while they are still actively growing and not declining. Each cutting should contain 4 to 6 nodes (bump-like buds along the stem). Cut the stem just under a node then remove any lower leaves, flowers, seed heads and the tip (growing point) of the stem. Place 3 to 5 cuttings in one pot filled with moist sterile potting soil that’s not too peaty. Add vermiculite or sand if it is and mix well.

​Water gently with lukewarm to warm water and place in bright room out of direct sun. If you wish, mist a few times daily or place them in a clear plastic bag blown up and secured to keep the humidity in. Once new growth begins, pot each cutting in its own 2 inch pot filled with potting soil. Water gently and keep out of full sun for a couple of days. For more on taking cuttings click here. 
cuttings,propagation,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Take cuttings from your impatiens and keep them as houseplants overwinter. Plant outside in spring after frost.
cuttings,propagation,overwintering tender tropical annual plants,The Garden Website.com,Amanda's Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
To make a cutting, cut the stem, like this geranium, just below a node.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    Here are some of my previous blog postings. They cover a wide range of topics from bugs to my botanical excursions and conventions. Click on whichever interests you on the titles below for easy navigation. 
    • ​Building a French Kitchen (Potager) Garden
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Tomato Taming
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvests
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Plant Rusts
    • Dunbar Garden Club Garden Tour 2020
    • Rose Bloom Balling
    • ​Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses Do Exist.. Really!​
    • Easy Vegetable Garden Trellis 
    • Tomato Seedlings to Plants
    • Video: How to Divide Dahlias 
    • Video: How to Plant a Tree
    • Video: How to Prune a Grapevine in Winter
    • Damping Off - A Seedling Killer!
    • Lawns: ​Seeding, Sowing, Renovating
    • Lawn Grub Control
    • Tuberous Begonias 101
    • Dahlias 101
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Dealing With Drought
    • Heritage Vancouver 7th Annual Garden Tour
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Pruning Shrubs into Trees
    • 10 Steps to Festive Planter
    • Christmas Tree Selection 
    • Collecting & Saving Seeds
    • Heritage Vancouver 6th Garden Tour
    • The Dunbar Garden Tour 2018
    • Dart's Hill, A Garden Park
    • VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visit
    • Tall Kale Tales
    • Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Seattle
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Why Christmas cactus Don't Blossom
    • A Quickie Festive Swag
    • Putting the Garden to Bed
    • How to Drain Soggy Soil
    • A Visit to the Arizona - Sonora Desert
    • Banana, Palm Tree Winter Protection
    • Lasagna Gardening, Sheet Mulching
    • Saving Geraniums, Coleus, Bougainvilleas & Other Tender Plants 
    • Spiders Everywhere - Oh My!
    • Tomato Troubles & Soil Solarization
    • Trees That Drip That Sticky Stuff
    • Balcony Bliss
    • June Bugs - One Huge Beetle! 
    • A Summer's Day Harvest
    • The Dunbar Garden Club Private Tour
    • Leaky Birdbaths and Slug Free Strawberries
    • Oops... Wrong Plant, Wrong Place
    • I Had An Ugly Lawn...​
    • ​How to Make a Christmas Elf
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • To subscribe to my blog click here. 

Home

 About, Services & Contact

Ask Amanda

Copyright © 2017
Photo used under Creative Commons from vwcampin
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
  • Garden Club Events