Geranium is a flowering plant in the Geraniaceae family. It produces beautiful, fragrant flowers in shades of red, pink, purple, or blue. Geraniums can be grown in pots, planters, or in the ground as an ornamental garden. Regardless of how you use this flowering plant—to decorate your home, garden, or balcony—it’s important to prune it when necessary to encourage flowering and achieve beautiful blooms. Find out when and how to prune geraniums.
Pruning or trimming a plant makes it more vigorous, protects it from disease, and above all encourages new growth, for abundant flowering.
When and how to prune geraniums?
It is important to know when and how to prune your geraniums in order to achieve the desired effects.
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The ideal times to prune geraniums
You can prune your geraniums when you first buy them, when you bring them home. This will help them maintain their round, bushy shape as they grow. However, if you like their original shape, this step is not necessary. However, it is important to prune geraniums as winter approaches to help them stay healthy during this cold time of year and bloom again in spring. However, if the climate in your area is very cold to the point where the ground may freeze, it is important to dig up geraniums grown in the ground. Then transfer them to pots for indoor growing, protected from the cold. Also, remember to prune your geraniums in early spring to remove long, faded branches that grew over the winter. This way , you prepare your geraniums to bloom and grow better when temperatures are milder.
The Right Way to Prune Geraniums
prune geraniums
Before you begin pruning your plant, it’s important to first examine it to determine where you’ll be pruning. For example, where branches are wilted and dead, and where there are few leaves. Then, using sharp, disinfected pruning shears, remove the faded flowers.
This encourages the production of new flowers, but will also help tidy up the plant, making it easier to identify which branches need pruning. Next, move on to the dead leaves. Removing them will help the plant avoid wasting its energy and reserves unnecessarily. Note that it’s not a good idea to try to save dying leaves. If they have lost their green color, don’t hesitate to prune them with small shears to encourage the production of tougher, more vigorous leaves. This can be done at any time of year, but is most important in spring, as it helps promote flowering.
During this season, also remember to prune healthy stems. Don’t hesitate to cut a stem, even if it’s not wilted, at its base, to encourage new shoots and therefore new flowering. If, when pruning your plant, you notice the presence of very long branches but which do not contain leaves or which only have a few leaves, remember to cut them about 5 mm from their node. You can keep the cutting to replant it and ensure the multiplication of your geraniums.
How to care for geraniums?
geraniums
Native to South Africa, geraniums thrive in the sun. Keep your plant in full sun or partial shade, without worrying about the heat. Geraniums can really withstand high temperatures, but only if they are watered regularly. However, before watering, stick your finger into the soil to check if it is moist or not. Also, give your plant time to absorb the water before watering again to avoid overwatering and waterlogging. To extend the life of your geraniums, be sure to repot them in a new pot every two years.
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Since this plant thrives in well-drained soil, it is recommended to place a layer of clay pebbles at the bottom of the pot to facilitate drainage. Don’t hesitate to fertilize your plant with a special geranium fertilizer to improve flowering. To ensure your geraniums bloom and grow healthily, also remember to protect them from pests and parasites that ravage them, such as green aphids, whiteflies, and thrips.
That said, pruning your geraniums makes them more vigorous and encourages more abundant flowering, which will allow you to enhance the flowerbeds, balconies or terraces of your home.
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