Want More Geranium Blooms Next Year? 4 Care Tips to Do Right Now For Beautiful Blooms

Many gardeners grow tender geraniums (Pelargonium spp.) as annuals and throw their plants in the compost pile at the end of the growing season. But geraniums are technically perennial plants that can grow for years and rebloom again in spring if they’re protected from cold winter weather.

If you’d like to try your hand at overwintering geraniums, here are four techniques that actually work, and simple steps to help your plants rebloom next year!

Outdoors

Tender geraniums are winter hardy in zones 10 and 11, and can potentially be overwintered outdoors in areas where temperatures rarely fall below freezing.

In these locations, just continue to water your plants through winter, and cover your geraniums with cloches, grow tunnels, or frost protection blankets on chilly nights.

As long as severe cold isn’t on the forecast, your plants should continue to grow through winter and rebloom in spring with minimal fuss.

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Indoors

In colder areas, geraniums can be brought indoors for the winter and grown as houseplants until spring. This is easiest if your plants are already growing in pots. If your geraniums are still growing in your garden, dig them up before frost hits and repot them into 8 to 12-inch wide containers.

Once your plants are potted, wash the pots to remove dirt and debris, and check your plants over carefully for pests and diseases. Then, prune your plants’ stems back by 1/3 to 1/2 and bring your geraniums indoors.

Through the winter, keep potted geraniums near a grow light or in a sunny south- or west-facing window where temperatures stay at around 60 to 65°F. Test the soil with your fingers before watering, water only when the top of the soil feels dry, and pinch back stems to a leaf node if they start to look leggy.

When the weather warms, harden your geraniums off over a 1 to 2 week period, and move them back outside once the risk of spring frost has passed.

Bare Root

Growers who don’t want to tend geraniums through winter can also try overwintering dormant, bare root plants. However, this technique is riskier and doesn’t always work.

If you’d like to give it a try, dig up your geraniums before the first fall frost, shake away the dirt on the geranium roots, and store your plants in an open box or bag in a cool, dry, and dark basement, garage, or other frost-free location that will stay at around 35 to 45°F until spring.

During the winter, your plants should naturally enter a state of dormancy and they won’t need much water. It’s perfectly normal for dormant geraniums to drop their leaves, but if their stems look wrinkled and dried out, soak your plants’ roots in water for about an hour and let your plants dry fully before storing them again.

Cuttings

To save space, geraniums can also be propagated and overwintered as cuttings. Take 3 to 4-inch long stem cuttings from healthy, green geranium stems in fall, and make your pruning cuts at a leaf node.

Strip away the lower leaves on each stem cutting, dip the cut stem ends in rooting hormone, pre-poke planting holes, and then plant the stem cuttings about 2-inches deep in pots filled with seed starting or potting mix.

When you’re done, move the cuttings into a window that receives bright, indirect light, water regularly, and your cuttings should root in about 6 to 8 weeks. 

How to Bring Geraniums Back in Spring

Geraniums that overwintered outdoors should start to produce new leafy growth and blooms once the weather warms. However, plants that were overwintered inside may need a little more attention to bloom again.

If you overwintered geraniums as houseplants or cuttings, start fertilizing your plants with a balanced, liquid organic fertilizer diluted to 1/4 strength in April. Then, slowly harden your geraniums off over a 1 to 2 week period, and move your plants back outside when nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50°F.

Depending on your goals, you can either keep geraniums in pots or plant them back in your flower beds.

Alternatively, if you overwintered dormant, bare root plants, prune your geranium stems back by about 1/3 in March, or about 6 weeks before your last frost date. Make your pruning cuts at a leaf node and remove any dead stems and leaves that you see while you work.

After pruning, plant your geraniums in pots filled with potting mix, return them to a sunny location, slowly increase watering, and move your plants outside and start fertilizing them once the risk of frost has past and your geraniums have started to produce new leafy growth.