How to Get Geraniums to Rebloom

Often used as a bedding plant, geraniums flower from spring until the first fall frost kills the plants. While geraniums are often used as an annual plant, they are actually perennials. Instead of disposing of your geraniums after a killing frost, bring them indoors where the temperatures are warm enough for them to thrive. Overwinter them until spring when you can then encourage your geraniums to rebloom.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• Shears
• Spade
• Pots
• Potting soil
• Fertilizer

1. Cut off the top half of the geraniums with garden shears before the first frost in fall. Look over the plants for signs of damage or disease, and choose the healthiest ones for overwintering and reblooming.
2. Fill an 8-inch pot with a potting mix for each geranium you are digging up. Dig around the roots of the geranium then slide your spade under it, lifting it from the soil. Plant the geranium in the prepared pot to the same depth it was planted in the bed.
3. Water each pot until the excess water begins draining from the bottom drainage holes, ensuring the soil is evenly moist. Bring the pots indoors and place them in a sunny window in a 65 to 70 degrees F room.
4. Water each pot when the soil surface begins to feel dry. Check them every other day as winter air, even indoors, is more drying.
5. Pinch off the tips of each stem one or two times throughout the winter. Pinch when the plant begins looking leggy or if you wish to encourage a bushier, rounder plant.
6. Fertilize each plant with a liquid balanced fertilizer one week before transplanting outside, following label instructions for exact application amounts. This encourages bud development, making the geraniums ready for reblooming.

Tips & Warnings

• Replant the geraniums in the garden bed once all danger of frost has passed in spring.

• Geraniums can also be dug up and hung in a 45 degrees F room for storage. The plants go dormant when stored this way, and are more prone to dying during storage.

• If you have little direct sunlight in winter place the geraniums under fluorescent grow lights for eight hours a day, otherwise they may die from lack of sun.