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Geranium flowering

Bobfranklin44Bobfranklin44 Posts: 1
in Plants
planted a number of gerainiums in early summer . produced lots of greenery but no flowers.
Any advice appreciated

Posts

  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    Annual (Pelargonium) or hardy geraniums? 
  • Janie BJanie B Posts: 963
    Mine too (both pelargoniums and hardy geraniums) seemed to produce loads of greenery and hardly any flowers this year too. I assumed it was "the weather"!!!
    Lincolnshire
  • Big Blue SkyBig Blue Sky Posts: 716

    This summer wasn't very kind to my pelargoniums. There wasn't a lot of flowers, and some of the plants died completely. I kept them well watered, however I think that the heat and the sun was too much for them. Surprisingly so as I always thought that's what they like most.

    I wonder if the reason could have been that they are about three years old and it just was time for them to go? But they are the large type, that normally grow tall and form robust strong plants over years. Not sure. Will be taking cuttings from what ever survived and start anew next summer.

    Surrey
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    I think you need to grow pelargoniums quite 'hard' to get them to flower well. Too much water or food and they grow big and leafy. My best flowerer this year was in a big pot with soil based compost about 50/50 with grit and watered once a fortnight and I don't think I fed it more than once all summer. You do need to shade them from the midday sun, really. They like heat and light but they will scorch if it's too sunny.

    Geraniums are a different issue. Rozanne has been a mass of flowers (still is) grown in the ground in heavy clay, full sun and not watered at all. The others - various types - had a much shorter flowering season than usual. I normally cut them back hard when they stop flowering in June or July and get a second bloom later in summer, but this year, because it was so hot and dry, I didn't cut most of them back, leaving the leaves to shade the roots. I did cut back most of them in August, when the rain arrived here and most are looking healthy now but only the odd flower here and there. I don't think they have enjoyed this year's weather, on the whole.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I was about to say exactly what Raisin Girl has said.
    think where pelargoniums come from, hot, dry poor soil in Mediterranean countries.
    too much feed, too rich a soil/compost will produce lots of green, less flowers. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Big Blue SkyBig Blue Sky Posts: 716
    raisingirl said:
     You do need to shade them from the midday sun, really. They like heat and light but they will scorch if it's too sunny.


    Hi Raisinggirl, yes, I think that was exactly my mistake. The sun was too much for them and I noticed it when it was too late. Once I put them where there wasn't much sun some started recovering, but it was too late to save the whole display. I will be taking cuttings from what ever plants survived and start them again. 
    Surrey
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