Hardy geraniums are a group of flowering perennials that include many cultivars of the genus Geranium’s several species and hybrids. They go by the names real geraniums, perennial geraniums, and wild geraniums collectively. Other popular names for geraniums are wild geranium, crimson geranium, and cranesbill geranium (Geraniummacrorrhizum) (Geraniummaculatum). Many garden cultivars are the offspring of hybrids created by combining different species.
Tip
Beginners frequently mistake these perennial kinds for an other kind of plant that goes by the name of geranium. They may also be known as zonal geraniums, although the classic annual “geraniums” you see in deck planters and cemetery urns are actually Pelargonium x hortorum hybrids.
The Geranium genus contains a wide range of species, but the majority of those that are grown commercially are low-growing, thick carpet-like plants with flower stalks that poke and weave among other plants. The plant’s surface is covered in flowers that are various colours of white, pink, magenta, purple, and blue. The tiny, cup-shaped flowers, which are about an inch in diameter, draw a lot of butterflies and bees.
Depending on the variety, hardy geraniums can be used in a variety of ways in the landscape. While some types make excellent ground cover or rock garden plants, others are perfect for forest gardens and settings with some shade. Some hardy geraniums only bloom once, generally early in the growing season, while the majority begin to bloom in the middle of the summer and continue to bloom occasionally all through the growing season. Newer cultivars, including “Rozanne,” bloom continuously all summer long.
Height/Spread:
Depending on the type, they range from 5 to 8 inches in height for dwarf cultivars to 2 to 4 feet tall and wide for ivy varieties.
Exposure:
Most plants thrive in full sun. While zonals can handle moderate shade, regal types do prefer some partial shade. Some afternoon protection should be offered in excessively hot areas.
Bloom time:
Geraniums are prized for having a lengthy blooming period that can extend into the fall and begins in the spring. Plants may also bloom in the winter or the early spring if temperatures are kept above 45 to 50 degrees.
Color:
Flowers appear in a variety of colors, including reddish-black, mauve, orange, pink, purple, and white. The leaves of geraniums can be any color, including green, gold, chartreuse, bronze, red, and many other hues.
Are geraniums toxic?
The ASPCA claims that geraniums are poisonous to both dogs and cats. Vomiting, anorexia, sadness, and dermatitis are clinical indicators of intake or exposure. Plants should be kept out of reach of your pet at all times. view more common plants that are poisonous to dogs and cats.
How long do geraniums that are hardy bloom?
Hardy geraniums are bursting with flowers and have luxuriant foliage that gives the yard a great texture. They give a lot and demand very little since they are incredibly resilient, pest and disease resistant. The majority of hardy geraniums are absurdly simple to grow. They only need a soil that is well-drained and reasonably rich. In typical summer conditions, a few species are even reliably drought tolerant.
Some hardy geraniums have flowering seasons that last from late spring to late fall, which is quite long (if cut back hard after the first flush of blooms starts to fade in early summer). The better types will bloom constantly throughout the summer, bringing cheery color to your garden.
There are many different colors and textures to pick from to enhance the beauty of your landscape. Consider these top-performing types if you’re searching for a stunning, low-maintenance, hardy geranium that can withstand the seasonal difficulties. You’ll see that several of them have won the esteemed Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit!
Why aren’t my hardy geraniums blooming?
With the majority of their species being native to South Africa, geraniums (also known as pelargoniums or storksbills) are drought and heat tolerant plants that, under the appropriate circumstances, may bloom all year round in warm regions.
Geraniums don’t bloom because of wet soil, excessive shade, chilly temperatures, and high nitrogen fertilizer. To blossom in the summer, geraniums need well-draining soil, potassium fertilizer, full light, and nights that are regularly warmer than 55F (12C).
To find out why your geraniums aren’t flowering and how to put the best practices into practice so that they bloom to their full potential, keep reading.
Do geraniums flower throughout the winter?
I DON’T WANT TO BE BURDENED WITH TIRED, OLD, MONSTER-SIZE PLANTS WHEN IT COMES TO OVERWINTERING GERANIUMS. Fresh, young, eager-to-grow geraniums that are manageable in size for the window garden’s ornamental purposes are what I’m after. Do you share my desire? Then allow me to precisely demonstrate how to prepare these common summer plants for interior winter splendor.
A suitable time to restore and propagate zonal and scented-leaved geraniums is in the middle of August or at least six weeks before the first anticipated frost. This provides the plants plenty of time to heal from root stress and for cut stems to develop roots before the major shift from the outside to the inside.
I’ve never had a problem with the restoration and propagation techniques listed below:
Cut the plant back to within an inch of its life, or to the point where the lowest leaves may be discovered, when working with a zonal geranium that has grown all summer (like “Puritan White” above). Be harsh here.
Your plant should resemble this once virtually all of the top growth has been removed.
Pull the geranium out of its pot next. Place one hand over the plant’s top, where it may support the soil and top growth, to do this in a “professional manner”. Invert the pot next, and while keeping the base in place with your other hand, strike the rim of the pot against a hard surface.
It’s likely that you’ll find the plant to be extremely root-bound. We’ll take care of this.
Slice the roots in thirds using a sharp knife. You should cut away roots in direct proportion to the amount of foliage that has vanished.
After that, cut vertically to cut through the dirt and roots as shown above. The objective is to be able to center the plant in its previous pot with a one-half to one-inch space between the dirt now present and the pot’s walls.
Now carefully examine your geranium. Do you notice any rotten or dead stems? Cut off these. Only three or four stems that exhibit signs of vitality are required.
Then fill the pot with additional potting soil until it reaches about halfway up the edges.
Put the plant in the pot’s center now. If centering appears to be unattainable, then remove more soil and roots to produce a rounded form.
Afterwards, secure it with a paintbrush, a Popsicle stick, or a plant label (as above).
When planted correctly, there should be a one-inch space for watering between the soil’s surface and the pot’s top.
Thoroughly soak the plant until extra moisture drains out of the drainage hole. Remove any soil that is adhering to the leaves by rinsing them.
That’s all, then! You now possess a freshly restored geranium that will bring you joy during the rest of the winter.
What should we deal with all the stems that we cut now? All right, each of these can develop into a new plant.
The stems should then be left alone for a few hours (or perhaps a few days) to allow the cut end to “callus,” or dry out. It is unlikely that a callused cut will decay.
Stipules, or the little flaps along the stem, should also be removed. These could decay in soggy ground.
There isn’t a picture for the following three steps because I don’t believe you need it: Take a 4-inch clay pot, and cover the drainage hole with a piece of shattered pottery. Then add a new mixture to the saucepan.
To a depth that roughly corresponds to the length of your cutting, press a pencil into the earth in the center.
And then, use your thumbs to firmly press the earth down. Or “thumb,” if you are working while holding a camera.
Just add a little more mixture and adjust the stem if, after pressing down, the soil level lowers more than an inch below the top of the pot.
Give the plant plenty of water (until excess drips through the drainage hole). Simply spray the leaves once or twice daily until roots grow if wilting symptoms appear. When new growth is visible, your cuttings will have taken root.
Place the plant outside in a well-lit but dim area. After the young plants have developed roots, you can move them to a location that gets half-day sun (or full-day sun in a window garden).
By the way, perfumed leafed geraniums can be propagated and restored using the same techniques. Unfortunately, they are becoming rarer by the day, therefore the only way to ensure that you will have them from year to year is to propagate them. My rose-scented “Lady Plymouth” is shown above. This variety’s leaves can be crushed and added to your bathwater. You can also prepare scented icing for cakes and cupcakes by steeping the leaves in full-fat milk.
You can view images of the scented-leaved and large-flowered geraniums I’ve used in my many winter window gardens throughout the years by visiting the houseplants category on this website. The lavender-pink “Americana” made a lovely sight in my music room window in December 2011.
America appears beautiful in my herb garden as well. It recently drew a hummingbird moth here.
Indoor Culture: Give your geraniums as much direct sunlight as an east or south window will allow for indoor success. While plants grown from cuttings often don’t set buds until the days become longer in February or March, restored plants can bloom as early as December. In February 2008, I grew zonal, scented-leaved, and fancy-leaved geraniums in the window of my library/den.
You don’t have an east or south window? Put the plants in front of some fluorescent lights. I can tell you that zonal geraniums will bloom in January virtually as well as they do in summer if they are illuminated for 16 hours each day.
Once the plants are established, I use a high-phosphorus, low-nitrogen plant food to promote flowering. One and a quarter teaspoons of formula per gallon of water are fed to the window garden test subjects. Due to their prolonged exposure to light, I raise the food for the window garden plants to one and a half teaspoons.
Well. I sincerely hope that this tutorial was at least somewhat helpful to you. Maybe you’ll tell me by posting a remark. Your words are the light of my life as always.
Should hardy geraniums be pruned back?
Hardy geraniums require hardly any maintenance. Rabbits don’t seek them, while slugs and snails prefer to consume other plants. After their initial flowering, they can be trimmed right back to the ground, and the next summer, they will produce new foliage and additional blooms. Avoid cutting back too soon after flowering because some hardy geraniums have lovely autumn leaves.
Propagating hardy geraniums
Hardy geraniums don’t typically need to be propagated because seedlings may be easily removed from the garden and potted up. In the spring, plants can be lifted and divided. Hardy geraniums can be challenging and time-consuming to grow from seed.
Growing hardy geraniums: problem solving
Geraniums that are hardy are generally trouble-free. However, the geranium sawfly larvae have been known to attack them (Ametastegia carpini). These appear to be 12mm long, small grey caterpillars. They leave unattractive lace-like holes in the leaves after they eat them. In your garden, the more resilient geraniums you have, the more probable it is that they will reproduce.
Since they fall off the leaves when the plant is disturbed, the larvae might be challenging to see. The months of May and September see the most activity; the September generation pupates in the soil and spends the winter there before emerging in the spring to deposit eggs on the foliage. Even though the damage can be extremely unattractive, the plant rarely becomes less vigorous as a result. The following steps could assist in keeping them in check:
- Many geranium sawfly larvae overwinter in the soil, therefore clearing away debris and lightly raking the soil beneath vulnerable plants will expose the larvae to the elements, where they will be killed by frost and devoured by birds and other predators.
- From May on, carefully inspect the undersides of leaves for signs of the eggs and larvae and remove them by hand if possible to prevent numbers from growing.
Are your hardy geraniums deadheaded?
Once established, hardy geraniums require minimal maintenance. After blooming, the plants might become a little scraggly, and deadheading is challenging due of the abundance of thin stems. Restoring the plants to their basal growth will enhance their appearance and promote reblooming. Within a few weeks, the plants recover.
Are hardy geraniums sun-sensitive?
Late spring to early summer, with some flowers reblooming all summer long in hues including white, blue, and pink.
Actually, geraniums aren’t geraniums. The annual flower Pelargonium is what most gardeners mean by geranium. I discuss them in the annuals chapter. In New England, true geraniums are hardy perennials with low growth and free flowering that come in hues like blue, white, and pink. Due to the seedpod’s resemblance to the bill of this bird, they are also known as cranesbill geraniums. The flowers develop above the lobed foliage and bloom intermittently throughout the summer. Deadhead the plant on a regular basis. This rambunctious plant extends out a few feet, but pruning and division control it. Bees and butterflies are drawn to the tiny, cup-shaped flowers.
Grow resilient geraniums all around New England. After all risk of frost has past, plant locally acquired transplants or divisions from a friend’s garden in the spring till early October. Although they will still bloom in partial shade and on clay soils, they grow and bloom best in full sun on well-drained, compost-amended soil. In beds, leave a foot between plants.
Each spring, plant hardy geraniums with a layer of compost and lots of water and fertilizer. Mulch around plant bases to prevent weed growth and maintain moisture in the soil.
If deadheaded and pruned after the initial blooming time, hardy geraniums will produce flowers again. If plants are divided every three to four years, they appear neater and blossom better. Dig up the cluster in the spring and separate out 1-foot-diameter portions for replanting or sharing. One of the most low-maintenance perennial plants you can cultivate in your garden is a hardy geranium. However, they are susceptible to powdery mildew in partial shade or during humid summers. To lessen the prevalence of this illness, keep plants clipped, spaced far apart, and clear away the fallen leaves in the fall.
In the perennial garden, hardy geraniums make excellent filler plants. They can fill in next to plants that have done flowering, like peonies and iris, or they can enhance other summer blooming plants, like roses, daylilies, and coreopsis. This is because they sprawl and flower in the summer. Keep hardy geranium trimmed so they don’t look too untidy if you plant them in the front of your flower bed. More trailing plants can be planted along a wall to cascade over the top.
My preferred hardy geranium variety is “Rozanne. This cultivar bears violet-blue flowers on a 2-foot-tall plant.” “Ann Folkard is a magenta colored flower kind that barely grows 8 inches tall and is ideal in a rock garden or along a wall. Johnson’s Blue is another similarly small blue blooming variation. White blooms grow on 12-inch-tall plants in the album.