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| Glorious Geranium Blossoms leftover from last year 3/28/2012 |
I just love geraniums. They are a simple flower that bloom from spring through the end of summer. There seems to be very little that can go wrong with them. They are somewhat drought tolerant so even if you forget to water them once in awhile, they forgive you. They are like your children and if you do too much, they rebel and act up. So too much water and the roots will rot. Geraniums need to be dead headed to get them to continuously bloom. If the spent blooms are not removed, then new blossoms will not come and the plant may go to seed. There are two different fertilizers recommended for geraniums - use either 20-20-20 or 15-30-15 formulas. As always, when fertilizing, water after applying the fertilizer to avoid burning the plant. Clay soils need to be improved with organic matter so your geraniums will thrive. The flowers do well in containers, planted in the ground or brought inside for the winter. If planted directly in the ground, they prefer a shallow planting rather than deeply planted. I've been very lucky and had the same plants for several years. There are 3 main methods of overwintering geraniums.
- Hang bare roots upside down in cool place (45-50°Fahrenheit or 7.5-10°Celsius)
- Bring the plants inside as house plants
- Using a sharp knife or pruners take a 3-4 inch cutting, pinch off lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone and stick in a mixture of coarse sand and sphagnum peat moss
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