Should i pinch geraniums

The geraniums will quickly fill in as a bushier plant and resume blooming again. While pinching with your fingers is suitable for most trimming, you may use shears if the entire plant requires rejuvenation. Plants may cease blooming for one to three weeks after pinching. Continue to water them regularly and they will resume flowering shortly.

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Harrington's specialties include small business information, crafting, decorating and gardening. Share this article. Geraniums will grow tall and leggy if they're not pruned regularly. Cutting back the plants allows for new growth and longer-lasting blooms, bringing out the best in these bright, cheerful garden staple.

And you don't have to let the cuttings go to waste - you can use them to start new geranium plants. See the article below for information on knowing the right time to prune, trimming correctly, and propagating the cuttings. To prune geraniums, start by pinching off any dead blossoms, which encourages the plant to produce new flowers. Then, use hand clippers to trim dead or dying stems at the base of the plant.

For tips from our Horticultural reviewer on how to prune new geraniums, and when to prune more mature plants, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue.

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Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Part 1. Pinch geraniums as soon as you bring them home. When you buy a new pot or flat of geraniums, pruning them immediately will encourage them to grow in a full, round, bushy shape.

Be sure to remove dead flowers as well as any unhealthy leaves. Common geraniums are annuals, and they also do well with pruning, but since they won't last more than a season, it's not absolutely necessary to prune them. Prune geraniums in preparation for winter. After the growing season is finished, pruning back the geraniums will help them stay healthy and dormant during the colder months. Wait until the flowers have died and the geranium has gotten a little leggy, in late summer or early to mid-fall.

This way the geraniums will conserve energy during the winter and spring back to life when the weather gets warm. If you live in a temperate climate where the winters don't get so cold that the ground freezes, you can overwinter your geraniums outside. In colder areas, where the ground freezes hard, you'll want to dig up your geraniums and keep them in pots indoors for the winter.

Prune overwintered geraniums in the spring. The geraniums will have continued to grow over the winter, sprouting long, woody legs. It's not a very attractive look, and that's why geraniums should be pruned right at the beginning of the new growing season.

This will encourage them to grow in a full, pretty shape as the weather gets warm. If you overwintered your geraniums outside, prune in late March or early April, when the weather begins to warm up. If you overwintered your geraniums inside, wait until the ground has thawed. You can gradually get them used to outdoor weather by putting them outside during sunny, warm days and bringing them back in at night. When the last frost has passed, you can either transplant them to the ground or keep them outside in pots.

Part 2. Examine the plant. Take a look at the plant from all angles so you can identify problem areas. Look for areas where there aren't many leaves, dead areas, and lopsided areas. Determine where you'll need to prune in order to give your geranium a healthier and more attractive shape. Pruning actually spurs new growth of stems and flowers, so trimming back a particular place won't necessarily leave a hole.

If a large part of the plant is dead, you'll need to do some drastic trimming. The plant should survive as long as the central stalk is still green. However, it might take a few weeks before new leaves and flowers emerge.

Deadhead the spent blossoms. This pruning method is an important way to encourage the plant to create new flowers. Taking off the dead blossoms allows the geranium to direct energy toward producing new ones. It also clears your view of the plant's stalks, so you can better see what you're working with.

You can deadhead your geranium any time you see languishing blossoms; it's a quick way to maintain the health of the plant, and doesn't even require tools. Grasp the flower stem just behind the dead blossom with your thumb and forefinger. The name stuck — and the rest is history. It's the national flower of Switzerland, and you can see window boxes of the fragrant and colorful geraniums throughout the country.

And in America, Thomas Jefferson is credited with introducing the plant to the Philadelphia horticulturalist John Bartram. Almost wiped out in England during World Wars I and II, the plant was fortunate that British gardeners and commercial growers had sent a number of cultivars to America for their safety.

After the war, they were returned to the United Kingdom, and today, over 1, different species and varieties are healthy and growing at the English National Pelargonium Collection in Stratford-Upon Avon, reports Planters Place. There are several different times during the year that geraniums need pruning, pinching and a general cutting back. In the spring, overwintered geraniums begin to grow again. Head off that spurt by cutting off all the dead stems, leaves and remains of flowers.

Using sharp, clean shears, trim the plant back by one-third of its total growth. Give it a shot of fertilizer and water, and soon new growth appears. Once a new stem appears, pinch off the top half-inch.

What you are doing is encouraging not only new growth, but growth that fills out the plant.