Image Credit:
aniana/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Pelargonium spp.
Grown as
Toxicity
Sun Exposure
Water Needs
Height
Spread
Flower Color
Resilience
Plant Type
Growing
How to Care for Geraniums
- If planting in the ground, add a light mulch to cover the soil to cool the root zone.
- Allow soil to dry to some extent between waterings, then water thoroughly. Over-moist soil does more damage than under-watering. Do the finger poke; if it’s dry at 1-inch depth, then water. Do not water from overhead nor splash the foliage when watering, or you’ll invite disease.
- Deadheading is important for continuous bloom throughout the summer. Deadhead all spent blooms. Also, deadhead after a heavy bloom or a strong rain. One reader shared a tip, “For continued reblooming, finger pinch just below the spent flower as much as possible. I did, and each of my pelargoniums bloomed from spring into fall year after year.
- To promote bushiness and curtail legginess, pinch back the stems.
- During active growing months, fertilize every 2 weeks or so. Use a water-soluble fertilizer at half-strength. Don’t fertilize in winter, when the plant should be dormant.
- If you’re bringing in the plant for winter, water much less, but do not let the roots dry out entirely. Geraniums do best when given a period of dormancy through the winter months, during which they use less water and do not grow much. See below for more overwintering instructions.
- Geraniums can be repotted in spring to encourage new growth—or, if they need to be refreshed.
Overwintering Geraniums
- Geraniums that have spent the summer outdoors can be kept as houseplants, provided they get lots of sun. In northern climes, the sun may not be strong enough in late winter to stimulate buds on some varieties.
- Before the first fall frost, lift the plants and, using a sharp, clean knife, cut the stems back in a shapely fashion to about 6 to 8 inches. They should not have to support great masses of leaves in the low-sunlight environment they are about to enter. Save a few stems as cuttings to root—an easy way to multiply your plants.
- Transplant the “mother plant” to the smallest pot possible—enough to just fit the roots—using regular potting soil to fill.
- Keep the plants in the shade for a week, then place them in a sunny spot (they need all the sun they can get) and keep them cool.
- During winter, geraniums grow best with night temperatures of 50° to 60°F (10° to 16°C) but will survive if they drop to 32°F (0°C) and/or rise above 80°F (27°C), as long as they are kept relatively dry.
- When new growth appears in the spring, cut off all the old leaves.
The only thing more difficult than achieving new growth is keeping it. And here’s some help with that:
- Water is only available when the leaves show signs of drooping, and only small amounts are provided. Do not fertilize or feed the plants. It is critical that these plants get rest.
- If you want your overwintered geraniums to bloom for Memorial Day, pinch them back in February. Once warm weather returns and all danger of frost has passed, take the plants outdoors and transplant them to beds or pots, as you wish.
Types
- Interspecific: zonal and ivy hybrids; nonstop flower producers
- Ivy (Pelargonium peltatum): named for a trailing habit and ivy-like foliage; single, semidouble, or double flowers; colors include bicolor, burgundy, pink, purple, red, salmon, and white. Very popular for hanging baskets, window boxes, and containers.
- Regal, aka ‘Martha Washington’ (P. x domesticum): bicolor burgundy, lavender, pink, and white blooms; fussy—prefers cool, wet, climate conditions to hot, humid, and/or sunny; inappropriate conditions will reduce flower production; often a houseplant
- Scented: foliage yields scent (cedar, lemon, lime, mint, orange, and rose) when brushed or rubbed; note that ‘Citronella’ does not repel mosquitoes; pink or white flowers are smaller than those of zonals. It can be addictive to collect them all. Learn more about scented geraniums.
- Seed: similar to zonals; propagated by seeds; slower-growing, shorter, more compact than zonals; smaller but more numerous flowers than zonals; flowers “shatter” (are shed naturally)
- Variegated: a form of zonal; bi- or tricolor foliage; tends to have fewer flowers than other zonal types
- Zonal (P. x hortorum): the most common form; “zonal” refers to patterns on the leaves that darken with maturity; propagated by cuttings; single or double flowers; colors include bicolor, orange, purple, red, salmon, and white. These thrive in containers (as well as outdoors).
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Comments
I just planted my first Geranium, a Rocky Mountain Salmon (Zonal Geranium). It's planted in the ground, not a pot. My parents always planted Geraniums in pots, but they were always leggy and tall and never spread out. What is the technique for pinching them back? Do I need to do it with shears, or can I use my fingernails (or should I say what's left of my fingernails since I began spring gardening). Also: When fall comes, can I uproot it, put it into a large pot, and bring it into the house over the winter?
I am growing a standard geranium for a County Fair submission in mid-july. Up to now I have been pinching off all the flower buds so the plant would get fuller. At what point should I let the flower buds grow in order to get them to bloom in mid-july. The plant is fertilized once every two weeks with a water soluble fertilizer and gets at least 6 hours of Sun a day.
Oh, the pressure! We have no direct experience with this kind of timing and can not find it elsewhere, but we learned the following and pass it on in hope that it helps:
• When any given stem is as tall as you`d like or you wish to encourage branching or new basal shoots, pinch out its growing tip but not the flower bud forming alongside. In this way, you allow the terminal bloom cluster to mature and give pleasure while the removal of the growing tip has set into motion the desired activity below. By the time top blooms fade, new growth will be budding.
• If you want a miniature or dwarf geranium to go all to bloom, try potting in a 5- or 6-inch bulb pan or azalea pot (both types are more shallow than the standard, which is as wide across the top as it is tall). This practice allows the little geranium to develop many branches, and when the roots are sufficiently cramped, there will be a profusion of flowers.
• Give the roots a soaking when the surface soil is approaching dryness. If you wait until there is a slight wilting of the leaves, flower buds on the way will wither and die. But never leave a geranium sitting in water.
• Commercial growers have a variety (it seems) of techniques that seem complicated for home growers but you might glean some secrets by reading about this report from Michigan State: http://flor.hrt.msu.edu/assets/PdfAttachments/7Geranium-and-Zinnia.pdf
Good luck in at the Fair!
Where do you pinch them off at? Every time I start to pinch at the bottom where, it seems stem is coming out, doesn't seem to flower as much. Do you just pinch off below the bloom? I love these flowers but can't seem to keep a lot of blooms on them. Thanks!
Hi, Michelle. You only need to pinch 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the end of the stem.
Can you provide more detail on where exactly to pinch geraniums? Or a photo or drawing? I am confused exactly what is meant by “end of the stem”. I bought an entire flat of geraniums in April that were covered in gorgeous magenta blooms. Once the original blooms faded, there have no more blooms or even buds. I can’t figure out why. They have had plenty of sun and water. Thanks!
Do you pinch or do you cut spent flowers
Is there a picture where I can see how to cut the ends off On these flowers because mine look like they’re dead and I don’t know how to cut them
I buy full geraniums then they start to get leggy. Do I pinch the plant stems from leaf top 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I break the dying blooms down to where the come off of the stem. My question - where and how do I pinch plant to prevent leggy plant
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Geraniums are often mistakenly listed as "beetle resistant." In fact, Japanese beetles will happily eat geraniums. However, geranium leaves contain a substance that can paralyze the beetles for up to a day, making them more vulnerable to predators (or angry gardeners). For this reason, geraniums are used as a bait plant to trap and dispose of hungry beetles.