Looking for new species to add to your garden? You geraniums are popular for their tones or fragrances during the summer, the characteristics depend on the type that will be chosen.
Easy to grow and grow in terracotta pots, they can be grown alone or combined with other plants – lavender and nemesia are great options. Some geraniums can also be grown in hanging baskets.
Because of the perfume offered by some edible branches and leavesthey are sold as herbs. Their colors vary between pink, red, purple, bronze and white. they like plenty of sun, moist but well-draining soil, and they benefit from neutral or alkaline soil. Remember that production conditions vary with each geranium.
Careful: can be toxic to dogs and cats.
How to care?
Grown as annuals, they should be watered in the summer and when development stops, encouraging a second flush of flowers.
For planting, use a peat-free all-purpose compost and a slow-release fertilizer. If you choose one vase with other species, always keep it watered.
At the end of summer, cut the seedlings, to protect them from loss in the winter, and move the pots indoors in the fall. If you prefer to grow it as an indoor plant, let it flower until fall or winter and position it away from radiators or fireplaces.
Already in hibernation, transfer the seedlings that are in the garden soil or in large vases to smaller containers and reduce about 1/3 of the height of the seedling – continue watering.
In the spring, apply liquid fertilizer and increase watering.
How to propagate?
Do you want to expand your geranium garden? Remove branches above the third joint and below the growing tip. With a clean knife, remove all but the first two leaves. Try to make accurate cuts.
Fill plastic pots with compost and leave everything very firm, because if the collected material is moving in the soil, it will not flower. Water and insert the seedlings into the compost by about 1 cm.
Position the pots in warm but not overly warm locations. Be sure to label so they are not confused with other harvested varieties.
What types of problems can appear?
Zonal geraniums are susceptible to pelargonium rust – a fungal disease that tends to get worse in humid summers or when plants are grown in poorly ventilated environments. Easily detect by examining the underside of leaves for brown spots – any that are covered should be destroyed.
*Via Gardeners’ World