Overwintering annuals

I'm determined this year to overwinter a selection of tub plants,Surfinias etc.Would it be best to remove mature plants before the first autumn frosts or should I take late cuttings.I remember my Mother saving huge geraniums year by year that grew multitudes of flowers.
I have a spare bedroom with good light that would be ideal for keeping plants in a semi suspended state over winter.

Which methods do the garden centers use? Those that grow their own that is and don't just import.

 

Annuals are just that Raebhoop. Plants which grow for 1 year and then are finished. Geraniums are not annuals - probably tender perrenials which can be overwintered til the next year.
Surfinias (fancy name for petunias) are probably not worth the bother and expense of overwintering and might not be very successful. Having said that I had a petunia which flowered all winter in the garden and only died when the spring frosts got it.
Wait and see what replies you get from others.

 

You will have to ask garden centers which method they use. My thinking is they order fresh babies each year in little peet pots and they transplant to bigger pots etc. Salary of people to keep annuals going all winter would not be in their budget.

As for me I don't have the time to deal with saving annuals, to me my time is worth more than that. The cost of new annuals each year is far less than me spending time over the winter with them. Besides the following spring I can find some different ones and not feel a loyality to a winter over ones.

 

As already said .Annuals are one season only and are grown annually from seed in the spring ..
Geraniums and Fuchsias (plus many more ) can be overwintered either as a stock plant or by taking autumn cuttings .It depends on the amount you wish to spend on heating and the amount of plants you need as to wether it is worth the time and expense .If you have unusual varieties then it can be worth it ..
Dave

 

As the others have said. True annuals will die after flowering - so you can't overwinter them.

However quite a lot of plants that people think of as annuals, such as Geraniums and Fuchsias etc, are really tender perennials and can be overwintered if kept frost free. Geraniums, if kept dry, will take a certain amount of frost. You can often just leave them dry in a garage. But you must remember to water them and give them light in spring. Fuchsias are often worth overwintering. Petunias are also technically tender perennials. I have tried to overwinter them, but they were never any good the next year.

If plants are in the warmth of the house, they will tend to keep growing. So you must water them - but only a small amount.

 

I get the gist of the advice on here,but I thought such as true surfinias can't be grown from seed? So how are they produced year by year except from cuttings?

 

You are right .
Surfina petunias are not annuals and are propagated by cuttings ..You would need to overwinter the stock plant in a frost free enviroment and then take cuttings in the spring ..I have never managed it but would be interested to know if anyone in the forum has .Larger plant production nurseries will have these facilities,and a lot of rooted cuttings may well bell imported...
Dave

 

I've successfully propagated surfinia petunias from cuttings, but they, and lots of other cuttings were taken from the plants in my baskets, tubs, window boxes, pots, chimney pots, etc., and it was a bit hit and miss and they had to be just right and not taken too late, but I always had enough surfinia plants for the following year, along with fuchsias, bidens, marguerittes, trailing geraniums and probably lots more but can't remember. I think I can remember searching for shoots that didn't terminate in flower buds.

But due to the increased cost of fuel (propane) I gave up heating a greenhouse right through the winter quite a few years ago, and early sown leeks & onions were the next to go to save on heating costs.

 

Hi, l'm wondering the very same thing, as l would also like to be able to do my own hanging basket plants next year. I also thought that Surfinias could not be grown from seed, hence my other post regarding Root Trainers. If you have several 14" hanging baskets as l do, and being advised by the grower of my present plants, that l would need 14 plants per 14" basket, on my limited budget, it was very expensive.
Josie

 

but I always had enough surfinia plants for the following year

Hi scrungee, that's exactly what l would like to do. Did you take your cuttings in the Autumn or Spring? 'Cos l can see problems either way. If you take cuttings in the Autumn, will the roots be too big to squeeze into a hanging basket come planting time, and if you leave it until the Spring, the parent plant will have to be over wintered, and as it is in a BASKET with a round bottom, and l have not got the facilities to hang one indoors, l can forsee all sorts of problems, unless l tried to repot the plants into normal pots - does that sound feasible?:fingerdrum:
Josie

 

I took cutting in early Autumn and I think they went into cell trays at first, then 3" pots, and then planted they were planted in baskets around early May and they'd hang suspended in my greenhouse until after the danger of frosts had passed.

I never squeezed anything into a basket because if they were planted through a sheet of plastic I'd put inside the framework, I'd draw the plant out from the inside though small holes cut in it. I'd stuff so many plants into them that they'd dry out too quickly if I'd just used some fake moss, so that's why I'd also line with polythene.

But those trailing petunias were the trickiest of all the cuttings I took and it really needed constant checking for suitable shoots to cut off, whereas most of the other stuff had cuttings taken when i took the baskets down.