Geraniums

[Vagus]

We have a small sheltered very sunny border which I planted a load of geraniums in last year and which are still going strong, in fact thriving.
Will they flower as well as they did last year or do geraniums need pulling up and new ones put in after the frosts have gone?
There are even a few with flower buds.

[Buenchico]

Geraniums are classed as perennials, rather than as annuals. So they should keep flowering consistently for many years.

[Vagus]

I always thought they were annuals and that’s why my dad would take cuttings and have loads of pots of them on all the windowsills in the house over winter.
I’m talking about the upright ones, usually traditional red, not the ones which seem to spread all over the ground (we have those too and they just keep going year after year).
Thanks Chris.

[rowanwitch]

Do you mean pelargoniums.... People used to call them geraniums. If they survive use them as stock plants and take cuttings from them. I buy a few new ones every year as soon as I see them and build up numbers with cuttings.

[Barmaid]

Are we talking the perennial cranesbill or pelargoniums? I think you mean the latter. Pelargoniums are annuals, but if you cut them back and they don't get frosted they will just crack on. I;ve got some which are putting out new growth already. Just fleece them for a few weeks in case we get a hard frost. (And we will, of that I am sure, it is going to really mess with my fuschias which are putting out new growth).

As for cranesbill geraniums (border perennials) - they are almost impossible to kill.

[Vagus]

Well now I am confused.
Everyone I know calls what I’m talking about, geraniums, the flowering plant you can buy a tray of in individual small pots, usually bright red, or white, or shades of pink.
I always thought pelargoniums were those trailing plants you put in hanging baskets, or those which grow like crazy and are ground coverers.
I have been educated :)

[rowanwitch]

To make it even more complicated wholesale I was going used to sell the upright doubles ( properly called Regal pelargoniums) just as pelargoniums, the single pelargoniums as geraniums, and the hardy geraniums were hardly ever seen and if they were were called hardy cranesbills. Plant names do change as geneticists find out plants we thought were in the same family are not related at all.
It is quite common for pelargoniums to survive the winter now it hardly ever happened years ago.

[rowanwitch]

Sorry first line was autocorrected into nonsense.

[pastafreak]

This might explain the difference...or confuse you more...

https://www.geraniumrozanne.com/a-geranium-by-any-other-name-pelargoniums-vs-geraniums/

[Gromit]

No, don’t pull them up.
If they are well and thriving, now they will be healthy and flowering in the summer.
Yoy are lucky I had to take mine in on to indoor windoow sill to get the through storm, after storm, after storm…

[Vagus]

Thanks everyone, I think I now understand the reason behind the confusion between the two.
Gromit, that’s what I’ve decided to do. I was just wondering if they’ll flower as well as they did last summer, seems I might get another good show this summer but maybe replace them next year.