Geranium cuttings and where to get seeds?

I would like to know the best way (and time of year) to start geranium cuttings? I have pulled the plants completely before frost before and hung in the basement till spring, but it takes forever to get them looking good again. Also, does anyone know a good source of red geranium seed for next year? Thanks for any help!

My mother just pots them up in the fall and puts hers in a south facing basement window. They get watered regularly and do fine inside all winter. In the spring they go back outside. They are getting huge, but some have lasted several years.

seeds are readily available from Thompson and Morgan. It's a bit late to start them now from seeds as they need to be started back in the spring. cuttings can be done at anytime of year and from a non flowering stem

Stokes Seed here in the US also has seed and I believe their website is the same.

Do you mean Geraniums or Pelargoniums (commonly called seed Geraniums)? You hanging them inside for the winter makes me think you want Pelargoniums.

I didnt comment but I assume the said plant are Pelargoniums

Thanks for all the replies- can someone tell me the difference between pelargoniums and geraniums? I looked on the plants database, but sounds like the same thing to me:)

Anyway, the one's I have this year I raised from seed, lt pink, brt, pink and white, but next year I want to try red (more colorfule). I'll look on the web where you suggested.

I have a greenhouse which will be unheated till March next year, do you think cuttings would survive in there if they are started early, like say August?

b, in zone 6 Ohio, a Geranium will over winter nicely in the ground. Common colors are lavender, violet, pink and white. Mark seems to be the resident expert on them. :) Pelargoniums, or seed geraniums are the ones that are mostly upright in shades of pink, white and red. Pelargoniums are usually really inexpensive and annuals. It is not you that is confused. The nurseries sell them as Geraniums or seed geraniums.

by far the easiest way to tell them apart is smell. rub a leaf and smell your fingers. if it is highly scented it's a Pelargonium.

Flowers of Pelargoniums are only symetrical down a vertical axis as they usually have two upper petals and three lowers ones. Geranium flowers are symetrical through any axis because they have 5 evenly spaced petals.

eg 1 a typical pelargonium flower http://davesgarden.com/fp.php?pid=555975

eg 2 a typical Geranium flower http://www.snowdropinfo.com/pratense-seedling3.html

the data base is full if confusion because people insist on using common names.

why not start calling your plants Pelargoniums from today? dont be scared of what those on DG or your friends think of you calling them by their proper name

Mark & Badseed are correct. You are probably thinking of Pelargoniums, here's a better pic for you; http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=www.okstate.edu/ag/asnr/hortla/needham/Images/geranium.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.okstate.edu/ag/asnr/hortla/needham/extension/id/geranium.html&h=256&w=384&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpelargonium%26start%3D80%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dde%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN

Try using the latin names for your plants. Some of my mates looked at me as if I had two heads when I started doing it, but now they start to get the picture. Even my wife called our crane's bill Geraniums last week ..... ask me if I was proud ;-))

If you want to know about geraniums, have a look at Mark's site. He's the expert !!!


Wintermoor

And so the debate continues!!! It comes up quite often doesn't it!! Hardy geraniums (cranesbill) are grown in the garden all year - they are perennials. Pelargoniums are the 'geraniums' (wrongly named) that we grow during the summer months as bedding, as pot plants or indoor plants. My father always had them growing indoors!! I grow both plants and overwinter the pelargoniums in my garage in their growing pots and water sparingly from time to time. Come the spring, some new growth will emerge and from these I take cuttings. I then remove the old soil, fill with new and pot them up again, cutting old stems right back to the base and then giving them a slow release fertilizer. At this point in time, all are growing very happily, producing many blooms - even the new cuttings. I hope this helps!! :-)

it isnt just Geraniums and Pelargoniums that should be called by their proper name but a whole host of other plants but thats another thread. If I manage to educate one person per thread I'll be happy and all those who do searches and find my photos all the better

Well, I think what I'm talking about are pelargoniums, now that I've got several discriptions. I've had "scented geraniums" before, usually there's a big difference in the blooms,more foliage than blooms, I assume they are "geraniums"-right?

When I take cuttings from the one's I already have (pelargoniums) do I only take them from non-flowering stems?

Mark- where is your "site"? Thanks!

Yes, non-flowering stems - early in the season if you want a summer show. :-)

http://www.marksgardenplants.com click on Hardy Geraniums and for Pelargoniums http://www.marksgardenplants.com/pelargoniums2.htm

WOW!! I didn't know there were THAT many different ones! What is the Geranium, third from the last? It looks pink with red veins! Awesome!

on which page? there are seven pages!! LOL all the small images open to full size pages. however there isnt an image 3rd from last that is like your description

on page 1 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/clarkei-kashmir-purple-not.html
it is not Geranium clarkei 'Kashmir Purple' but a plant with very strange petal

on page 2 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/maculatum-chatto2.html
it is Geranium maculatum 'Beth Chatto'

on page 3 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/oxon-unknown11.html
it is a Geranium x Oxonianum seedling

on page 4 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/renardii3.html
it is Geranium renardii

on page 5 the images are missing so I must upload them again

on page 6 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/pratense-white-lady-not.html
it is Geranium pratense 'Wisley Blue'

on page 7 http://www.marksgardenplants.com/pratense19.html
it is a Geranium pratense seedling