On 20/03/2012 16:43, Jake wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:11:53 +0100, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

Is it sensible to leave geraniums in their pots
when putting them in a flower-bed,
so that they are easier to bring indoors for the winter?
If so, should one first transfer to larger pots?

Planting in pots is a landscaping trick - easy to remove the plants
once they're past their best and replace them with something else.

I just lift the pelargoniums (which is what the annuals are, really)
at the end of the season. Wrap the root balls in newspaper and box up
in the attic for the winter. Then in early spring I pot them up and
use them for cuttings for the current year's plants. I've found that
whilst keeping the parents will result in bigger plants in the
following year, they tend to get leggy and end up overwhelming their
planting space - they seem out of proportion to their neighbouring
plants in mixed planting.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling happily from the dryer end of Swansea Bay.

I kept some stuffed into pots with the bare minimum of compost and put
them in a cold frame. Right now the bigger plants look to have survived,
but the cuttings taken July time look decidedly iffy. The leaves have
turned red and look to be drooping. Should I have taken the cuttings
earlier?
When you say "early spring", I guess you keep them under glass when
potted up? I don't really have room so they'll have to stay as they are
for another month or so