A dreamy greenhouse, enormous geranium blooms, and aging terra cotta pots.......OH MY!
I stumbled upon a love I didn't even know I had until I stepped inside my greenhouse. I've always been drawn to English greenhouses filled with terracotta pots overflowing with pink geraniums.
This led me to discover that geraniums were my favorite WINTER flower to grow.
Winter.
Let that sink in.
This new journey for me began in the winter of 2020. I started gathering my seeds which I will say, were hard to get my hands on. I wanted to duplicate the color palette in the photo from Pinterest. I had some seeds in this color selection of reds, pinks, and corals, and I was able to order easily; some not so much. And for those, I had to pay more to get my hands on them.
You can save your seeds from your geraniums, but the most exciting thing of all is that once you have your established plants from seed, you will then have an unlimited supply of plants to take cuttings from if there are no propagation laws forbidding such on your seed packet.
It's such an easy process!
The thing I was unaware of was the fact geraniums LOVE a greenhouse environment. And, thankfully the greenhouse is a very forgiving space.
So that first winter, I grew my little seedlings and quickly learned they are S-L-O-W growers. Completely worth the wait, but I did not anticipate the growth to be so slow. And, let's be honest, waiting on that very first bloom was almost painful.
But, again, SO worth it!
Although growing seeds is just fascinating and fun, I quickly learned that taking starts from cuttings is so much faster to get you to those mature and blooming plants. So, that is my absolute go-to. However, there is still something special about a seed tray full of seedlings, so I will likely continue to grow at least one new tray every winter.
Typically if you have a greenhouse, your geraniums get tucked inside to overwinter in order to keep them safe and protected so you can use them again the next year. Most people will opt to let them go dormant. When I brought my geraniums (all grown from seed) back into the greenhouse at summer's end, I prepped them to do the same and took new cuttings to start.
But, within a few weeks, I started dreaming about....what if.....
What if...I could actually have a greenhouse filled with blooms and vibrant colors in the dead of winter with frigid outdoor temperatures, snow on the ground, or freezing rain pelting the roof. It was still a dream, or so I thought.
At that point, I completely switched up my game plan. What did I have to lose? Instead of just trying to keep them alive throughout winter for spring, I began nurturing them to have the possibility of bursting with blooms.
It worked well; beyond my greatest expectations.
To date, I have never seen healthier geranium plants, bigger blooms, or more vibrant colors.
Once they reacclimated from being outside in the heat of summer to the protection of the greenhouse I started being more attentive even adding some diluted fertilizer to them.
They took off and never looked back. Nor have I. This has become a winter staple for me and will have a permanent place in my greenhouse.
It was truly better than I ever imagined! I would walk into the warm and cozy greenhouse with snow on the ground to be greeted with an explosion of HUGE blooms of color.
Please let me know of any questions you have about growing geraniums in your greenhouse in the winter months in the comments below!
