wrote in message
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Hi All - have recently bought some nice old pots off some people
emigrating. One of these contains a big still flowering geranium.
As these start to die off could anyone please tell me what I should
do? I'm fairly new to gardening but if poss would like to see them
grow back next year. Any resource info you can give will be a big
help thanks.


Why don't you ask the people emigrating how they used to 'overwinter' the
pots and the plants contained?

From your description 'big, still flowering', I'd guess your 'geraniums' are
not the hardy geranium type, which would probably have dies back by now, but
pelargoniums.

Pelargoniums are not hardy and, if left in the garden, normally die off over
winter. I say 'normally', because I have known them survive outside over
really mild winters.

The best way to preserve them would, probably, have been to take cuttings in
the late summer, and to keep the rooted cuttings on a frost free window
ledge over winter. The old plants could then have been dispensed with or
left to their own devices.

Failing that, if you can get your pots into a frost free location where the
temperature isn't going to get much less than 7 degrees C the plants should
survive. If that's not possible, lift the plants and put them in a tray of
compost and keep them in an unheated greenhouse or similar. I'd take the
leaves off and cut the stems back to about 4 inches, myself. There's not a
lot of need for watering, either, until you see new growth in spring.

My grandfather used to lift some of his plants, let them dry, and then hang
them upside down in his shed over winter. I don't think they all survived,
but some used to show signs of life in spring, and he gave them a good
soaking before potting them, and they mostly grew as good as new. But then,
he had green fingers :-)