Preparing Tender Plants For Winter

TL;DR

Prime Big Deal Days · Oct 6–7Offer from Amazon

Get garden gear delivered free — and shop member deals

• Fast, free delivery on millions of items
• Access to Prime Big Deal Days deals on October 6–7
• Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included

Start your free Prime trial →Free trial for eligible customers · Cancel anytime

As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.Hide

An Amateur Gardening report published Oct. 7, 2026, recommends moving vulnerable plants into protected storage before winter weather damages them. Its advice includes lifting pelargoniums, drying and storing gladioli corms, and potting tender bedding plants for a greenhouse or indoor space. Local weather and plant conditions affect when to act.

Amateur Gardening published winter-preparation advice on Oct. 7, 2026, urging gardeners to protect vulnerable plants such as pelargoniums and gladioli from cold and damp by lifting or potting them up. The report says the timing should reflect local conditions: gardeners in exposed or northern areas may need to act sooner than those experiencing warm, dry weather.

The report, written by gardening expert and journalist Ruth Hayes, says pelargoniums rarely survive winter outdoors. Hayes describes one plant that made it through a winter in a sheltered spot beside a house but failed to recover and died the following year. For protection, she recommends lifting pelargoniums, planting them in peat-free multipurpose compost and watering them well before storing them under cover. Because the plants may become dormant, they may not need more water for weeks.

For pelargoniums, Hayes advises cutting shoots back to the lowest healthy leaf bud. She says this helps limit mould and shapes the plant for renewed growth. The cut-off shoots can be used as cuttings: pot them in seed or cutting compost and grow them on a light indoor windowsill. The report does not specify a temperature or give a fixed watering schedule for storage.

Gladioli corms are vulnerable to rotting in damp soil, according to the report, so Hayes recommends lifting them and storing them somewhere dry and frost-free. She advises cutting stems back by half, separating and keeping healthy new bulblets attached to mature corms, and discarding older corms that are shrivelled or soft. Tender perennial bedding plants, including petunias, lobelia and calibrachoas, may also be potted up and kept in a greenhouse; Hayes says this worked for her the previous year.

Protecting Plants Before Frost

The practical point is that winter protection can preserve plants for future growing seasons, while leaving vulnerable specimens in cold, wet ground can expose them to rot or damage. The report highlights a particular risk for gladioli in damp soil and describes pelargoniums as unlikely to make it through winter outdoors. Moving plants under cover also gives gardeners a chance to keep cuttings and bulblets for later growth.

The guidance is not a guarantee that every plant will survive storage. Its relevance depends on the plants a gardener has, the shelter available and local weather. The report’s advice to delay work in warm, dry locations, but move sooner in northern or exposed gardens, makes local conditions central to the decision.

Autumn Timing Depends on Weather

The report was published on October 7, 2026, during early autumn, when gardeners may need to decide whether to leave tender plants outside or bring them into shelter. Hayes says winter weather cannot be predicted with confidence. She refers to heavy rain in the previous year and a late cold snap in March 2018 as examples of different conditions that can affect gardens.

Her instructions focus on a small group of tender plants rather than offering a single schedule for all gardens. She says gardeners in northern areas or with exposed plots should consider acting sooner, while those where the weather remains warm and dry can wait a few more weeks. The report also recommends reducing watering after plants have been potted and are dormant, then resuming attention when growth restarts in spring.

“I’m not a betting woman but even if I were, I’d not place a wager on what weather this winter will bring.”

— Ruth Hayes, Amateur Gardening

Local Conditions Set the Schedule

The report does not provide a forecast for the coming winter or identify a specific date when every gardener should lift plants. It also gives no exact storage temperature, humidity range or watering interval. Those details remain dependent on the available shelter and individual conditions, and the article does not claim that its methods will work for every plant or garden.

Hayes’s examples of successful storage are personal experience, including her report that petunias, lobelia and calibrachoas overwintered in her greenhouse the previous year. The report does not give trial data or compare survival rates across different methods. Gardeners should treat the guidance as seasonal advice, not a prediction of the weather or a guarantee of results.

Monitor Plants Into Spring

Gardeners can check current conditions in their area, then decide whether to leave plants in place temporarily or move them under cover. Those lifting gladioli should inspect corms and bulblets, discard damaged material and keep sound corms in a dry, frost-free location. Pelargoniums and tender bedding plants can be potted up, with cuttings kept separately in a bright indoor position.

After storage, the next milestone described in the report is renewed growth in spring. Hayes advises limiting watering while plants are dormant and watching for signs that growth has resumed before watering again. The timing of that restart, and how well each plant comes through winter, will depend on conditions not specified in the report.

Key Questions

When should I prepare tender plants for winter?

The report says timing depends on local weather. Gardeners in northern or exposed areas may need to act earlier, while those in warm, dry conditions can wait a few weeks.

How should pelargoniums be stored?

Lift and pot them in peat-free multipurpose compost, water well, and cut shoots back to the lowest healthy leaf bud. Keep them under cover; the report says dormant plants may go weeks without further watering.

What should I do with gladioli corms?

Lift them from damp soil and store them somewhere dry and frost-free. Cut stems back by half, keep healthy new bulblets and discard corms that are soft or shrivelled.

Can I use the pruned pelargonium shoots?

Yes. Hayes recommends potting removed growth in seed or cutting compost and growing the cuttings on a light windowsill indoors.

Does the report give a guaranteed storage temperature?

No. It recommends a frost-free place for gladioli and protected storage for other tender plants, but gives no precise temperature or universal watering schedule.

Source: rss