Pruning Geraniums - Propagating Geraniums

How to Prune Geraniums

Rustic Garden Geranium Feature, Geranium Plants in Full Bloom on Blue Painted Wooden Stepladder, UK
Smith, Gary
Buy This At Allposters.com

Proper pruning is the key to growing geraniums in containers. Left to themselves, the plants will become leggy and begin to sprawl unattractively.

How to Pinch Geraniums

You must deadhead geraniums when the blooms fade to keep them neat and flowering. Just pinch the faded flower stalks off while you are admiring and enjoying your plants.

Cutting Back Geraniums

Door with Oleander and Geraniums
Stubberfield,...
Buy This At Allposters.com

If you fail to deadhead or pinch the plants back regularly and they become leggy, you will need to cut them back hard to make them attractive again.

Cut the stems back to 3-4 inches above the soil.

This will not hurt the plant but it will probably be painful for you as you will be removing flowers and buds when you do this.

Sometimes, when pruning geraniums in this fashion, you will experience some stem rot just below the cuts. Use a sharp knife to make your cuts and wipe the blade with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol between cuts.

How to Propagate Geraniums from Seeds

Sprinkle the seed evenly over moist planting media and barely cover it as it needs light to germinate.

Seed geraniums are best used as outdoor bedding plants. When growing geraniums indoors, favor the cutting grown types.

Propagate Geraniums from Cuttings

Geraniums in a Pot, c.1905
Redon, Odilon
Buy This At Allposters.com

This is the most commonly used method of starting geraniums.

Take 4 inch tip cuttings. Make your cuts a quarter inch below a node (where the leaves emerge from the stem).

Strip off the lower leaves and let the cut end dry before inserting a third of the stem into barely moist sand or peat based growing media. Keep the media barely moist--never let it become soggy when rooting geraniums or the cuttings will rot.

Cuttings will root throughout the growing season.

When overwintering geraniums, it is better to take cuttings of bedding plants that you wish to carry over than to dig the plants up and pot them. You end up with a fresh "new" plant instead of an old tired one.



Scented Geraniums
Scented geraniums. Cultivating Pelargoniums. Pelargonium graveolens, crispum and odoratissimum info and uses. Apple, rose and lemon scented geranium plants.


Pelargonium Domesticum
Pelargonium domesticum, regal or Martha Washington Geraniums. Sometimes called Lady Washington regal Pelargoniums.

Zonal Geraniums
About types of zonal geraniums, Pelargonium x hortum, garden geraniums. Geranium Pelargonium.

Cranesbill Geranium
The Cranesbill Geranium is a true Geranium unlike most of the plants which are called by this name but are actually of the genus Pelargonium. Geranium Cranesbill are blue perennial Geraniums.

Go from Pruning Geraniums back to Growing Geraniums
Growing geraniums. How to grow and care for geraniums in the garden. Planting geraniums in containers. About the care of all types of geraniums.

Go from Pruning Geraniums to Plant Guides Home Page