I would like some scented or ivy geranium cuttings, I will trade anything on my list or will trade unrooted cuttings of camellia, azalea, gardenia( radicans or jasminoides) or lorapetalum. Please let me know if you are interested, Thanks, Linda

Mindy - annual geraniums (annual for us, that is) don't make tubers, they have thick, fleshy roots. What I do is dig them after they've been frosted lightly a couple times (they're usually still green), shake off whatever loose soil shakes off easily, and throw them in big paper bags (I usually use lawn bags, but brown grocery bags work fine, too). I fold the top of the bag over, and take them into the crawl space, put against the coldest wall. I don't cut anything back at this point, just throw the plants in the bags - roots, top growth, clingy soil, all of it. Come early March or so, I take them out of storage, trim the top growth back to about 2" or so (depending), pot up using fresh potting soil, water, place on the light cart. They sprout pretty fast, and often growth will have started while still in storage. When they start to fill out a bit, I start fertlizing, and I take them out on the patio during the day to get the sunlight they need, bring them in at night. Plant out at planting time, sometime in May. I've been doing this for years, and it works beautifully - my geraniums are getting HUGE, they just get bigger and better every year :0) DH laughed at me one year when he saw me potting them up - he called them the "mummy plants". He thought no way would they grow. So now when we happen to discuss geraniums we refer to them as the mummy plants LOL! My sister told me my grandmother used to hang hers upside down in the cellar, but I've not tried that - don't have a root cellar, and don't really want plants hanging from the rafters downstairs in the laundry room...

Hello larrym I live in the Lothian region of Scotland at a height of 1000 feet. This year we have had a few frosts quite mild but bad enough to kill Pellies. In my experience there are two options 1) Put a heater one of your cold frames that will maintain a minimum temperature of +5 degrees Celsius. 2) Take cuttings from your plants in early Autumn, you may wish to spray your plants against fungal diseases and pest infestation. Insert the cuttings without rooting hormone into good quality general purpose compost containing about one third of volume vermiculite, perlite or coarse sand, water and allow to drain. Place the pots on a well lit window sill in a frost free environment. This is the method I use, you should put about 5 cuttings per 5" half pot. NB Do NOT tent, or close up your cuttings. Also take care if using non peat based composts as some of the other materials, coir, bark etc.) retain too much moisture for pelargoniums, if you object to using peat try JI No1 soil based compost.

Lynne, I purchased some Ivy Geraniums from Ohio and planted them in cocconet matt (don't know what they're actually called) hanging baskets in South Georgia. It gets darn hot and humid here starting in March through October. They did great considering the high humidity and heat here. I was surprised that they bloomed all summer and are still blooming. As you would know, they are much happier when the temperatures go down. I fertilized with the slow release about three times and watered them early in the morning--almost every day. Now my watering is less frequent. I spray my plants with Neem Oil on a regular basis, as fungus and insects are a problem here. I will be repotting them soon and have in mind to use something in the pots to help keep the soil cooler. I think that will help. I put them on stands that I wheel into the garage to protect from the frost, and wheel them out every morning. My pelagonians did very well except the little catapillar guys drove me crazy. I ended up putting them all in pots with new soil mix. Pat