What do I do, please? ....

Help needed as usual.. where would this wannabe be without this forum!!!

Do Begonias, geraniums, Busy Lizzies die off? They are in containers which, in a week or so, I would like to plant pansy plugs which have been nurtured for a month.

Will the begonias, etc, survive elsewhere?

Sorry, daft questions maybe...but there is so much to learn. LOL

 

They will survive inside, but all will die down in frosts if left outside.
Some Begonias have corms which you can lift and store in a dry frost free place. I lost all mine last year as I left them in the shed and they got frosted.
Cuttings from geraniums are worth taking and the main plant will be OK inside, and sometimes will die back but grow again outside in milder winters.
My neighbour takes cuttings from her Busy Lizzies and grows them inside over winter. I have trouble with them inside as I haven't got a nice warm windowsill with enough light.

 

For years we have brought our geraniums inside during the winter after cutting them back by about half. Water very little during this time and if they get any wild shoots, chop them off. We used to take them, and also the freesias and cactus upstairs to winter, but now we have the huge Wintergarten so everything is moved into it.

We used to have one of these giant filled begonias and as Liz says, it had a corm. Hubby took it out of the pot at the end of the season and stored it in a dark place, the garden shed tree room where the heaters are in. We had it for years, then all of a sudden it didn't sprout again, no idea why.

Have never tried to keep Busy Lizzies over the winter.

 

Agree with all the above - and it's not worth keeping busy lizzies. It's very easy to grow them from seed, and that's what I always do.

 

Thank you for responses; most helpful and much appreciated.

 

Re the pansies, I would plant them out now. They are tough plants, I have even found them flowering under snow. Frosts make them flow, but as soon as the frost is gone they perk up.

If you have a particular busy lizzie that you want to propogate, and that may be difficult to find again - then they are easy enough to root cuttings in water - and will grow fine indoors. Otherwise I would agree with the others, not worth the effort.