Geranium, how to care for it

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Five petals apiece, crowding the garden boxes on windowsills, balconies and terraces from the beginning of spring until the first frost spells: that is geranium (Pelargonium), one of the best plants for pots and arrangements. It cannot resist freezing, so move it into a cool, ventilated, frost-free space and it will flower again.

Planting and repotting, care and pruning will help you increase the blooming considerably.

Planting geranium

Geranium is one of the best plants for garden boxes and potted arrangements.

In garden boxes and pots

You may plant geranium as early as early spring and mid-spring in areas having mild climates, but you’ll have to bring it indoors if it freezes.

If you don’t want to take any risk, wait for the frost spells to weaken before bringing it out, towards the month of late spring.

When planting in garden boxes, use soil mix, preferably a type designed for geraniums specifically. It tends to drain very well, but also retains moisture thanks to additives like hydrogels, perlite or expanded clay.

Directly in the ground in your garden

Wait for the mid-spring or even late spring in regions further North before setting it in place. While you’re putting it in the ground, add geranium-specific growing medium to your soil.

• Space plants 32 inches (30 cm) apart.

Propagating geranium

This plant is very easy to propagate through cuttings or through sowing under shelter.

Work on the cuttings will start at the end of summer by snipping off stem cuttings from the mother plant, or in spring as the vegetation phase takes off.

• Find our guidelines on preparing geranium cuttings

Start in late winter for the varieties that are propagated through sowing.

Pruning and caring for geranium

• It doesn’t need any pruning.
• Remove wilted flowers regularly because the needlessly drain resources from the geranium.
• Yellowing leaves are very common on geraniums, simply remove them as they appear.
  Take care though, this may be connected to excess water. If many leaves turn yellow, wait for the soil to dry up before watering again with organic fertilizer.
• If leaves turn brown and crispy dry, water more often with the same amount of water.

• When deadheading a geranium, snap or cut the whole flower stalk right back where it joins the stem, rather than pulling off the faded petals alone, as the leftover stub rots easily.
• Pinch out the growing tip of young geranium plants above a leaf joint to encourage side shoots, producing a bushier plant with more flowering stems instead of a single leggy stalk.
• Clear fallen petals and dead leaves from the surface of the compost and from the crown of the plant, because damp debris encourages grey mould, which spreads quickly onto healthy stems.
• Water geraniums at the base of the plant rather than over the foliage and flowers, as wet leaves and blooms in still, humid air invite fungal spotting and rot.

How to grow beautiful geranium

Geranium fertilizer is particularly recommended for this plant if you wish to increase the blooming.

Also remember to water regularly, especially if it is set in full sun, because geranium requires a lot of water.

• Water at the base of the plant rather than over the top, since water left sitting on leaves and flowers encourages grey mould, which rots petals and stems in damp weather.
• Check that every pot and garden box has open drainage holes and tip out any water standing in the saucer, because roots left soaking will rot and the leaves will yellow.
• For many branching annuals and perennials, pinching out the growing tips of young plants encourages side shoots and more flowering stems, though plants grown for a single terminal spike should be left unpinched.
• For plants grown for flowers or fruit, gardeners commonly switch to a high-potash feed such as tomato fertiliser once buds form, since excess nitrogen tends to favour leafy growth over flowering.

Winterizing: keep geranium safe in winter

Most everybody is aware that a geranium can’t resist freezing and must transfer indoors at the first sign of freezing.

Leaving it outdoors in its pot, garden box or in the ground over winter will certainly not lead it to grow back in the following spring, unless it never freezes in your area.

You must thus absolutely keep it in a cool and ventilated space that is guarded against freezing.
This guarantees that your geranium is properly winterized.

You’re in either of 2 cases:

1 – For potted geraniums in garden boxes or pots

• Bring the garden boxes in a cool, dry and well-lit space before the first frost spells.
• The ideal preservation temperature ranges from 40°F to 50°F (10°C to 15°C).
• Cut the stems back by about ⅔.
• Reduce watering and even stop watering altogether during the coldest winter months.
• Resume watering a bit at a time starting in late winter to early spring. Bring the garden boxes back outdoors in spring.
• This is the perfect time to repot the geranium in fresh, new soil mix just before bringing them back out.

2 – For geraniums planted in the ground

• Pull the geraniums out before the first frosts hit.
• Snip off the tips of the roots and prune the branches to ⅔^rds their length.
• Store them in a cool and well-lit place until spring comes.
• In spring, plant them back in the ground in a blend of soil mix and earth.

Geranium calendar: when to do what

Geranium asks for very little, but everything depends on timing: planting after the frosts, propagating at the right season, and moving the plants under cover before the cold arrives. Here are the dates given in this article, gathered in one place.

Whichever variety you grow, the care is the same, so this calendar applies to all of them.

Which geranium to choose?

All pelargoniums are grown in the same way, so the choice comes down to habit, height and colour. Here are widely sold varieties and series, from upright zonals to trailing ivy types and scented-leaved kinds.

Learn more about geranium

Geranium, which we should actually call pelargonium, is famous since it flowers in many of our gardens. It often appears in garden boxes on windowsills, balconies and terraces.

Very common and very ornamental in our countries, this flower with 5 petals will beckon from the beginning of spring until the first frost spells.

There are over 200 species and varieties of geraniums; caring for them is always the same and each will give you the same level of enjoyment.

• A fabulous variety that is now released from patent protection is the geranium rozanne. This means you can propagate it at will!
• Also beautiful is ivy geranium. It has nice banded leaves.

• Choose a feed high in potassium rather than nitrogen, because a nitrogen-rich fertiliser pushes geraniums into lush leafy growth and gives far fewer flowers.
• Water the pot before applying liquid fertiliser, since feed poured onto dry compost can scorch the roots and simply runs straight out through the drainage holes.
• Pinch out the growing tip of a young geranium just above a leaf joint to force side shoots, as each extra branch carries its own cluster of flowers.