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Cutting back hardy geraniums: Best time to do so?

CulpabilityBrownCulpabilityBrown Posts: 63
in Tools and techniques

Hi all,

When is the best/right time to cut back hardy geraniums so that they're ready for the new season? 

I trimmed them of their dead flowers and brown messy foliage after flowering late last summer, and was planning on chopping them back hard once the rest of the foliage browned and started dying off, but the remaining foliage stayed looking healthy and green all winter! 

It's still in good shape now and is kind of helping the border look a bit more pleasant and green rather than there just being bare brown soil, but should I cut it back hard to the ground before spring anyway? (I.e. will it not grow/flower as well if I leave it as it is?  Will it block/stunt the growth of other nearby hardy new spring shoots if I leave it as it is?)

If you do recommend chopping back hard, when is the optimum time to do so (now? early spring? ideally before now?)

Thanks!

Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I'd do them any time in the next few weeks
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I’d do them when this promised cold snap is over. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295
    Hi @CulpabilityBrown,

    Do you know which hardy geranium it is?
    I have a couple - G. Biokovo and G. macrorrhizum album (also known as rusty duck) which are both semi-evergreen.
    With these I just pick off any dead bits and leave them.

    Bee x image 
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • CulpabilityBrownCulpabilityBrown Posts: 63
    Bee witched said:
    Hi @CulpabilityBrown,

    Do you know which hardy geranium it is?
    I have a couple - G. Biokovo and G. macrorrhizum album (also known as rusty duck) which are both semi-evergreen.
    With these I just pick off any dead bits and leave them.

    Bee x image 

    Unfortunately not, they're the "cranesbill" type, but I've no idea what variety etc it is.  They stayed green throughout winter, but that may just have been because it's been so mild.
  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    It’s one of my first jobs to do in early Spring, say March. 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
  • CulpabilityBrownCulpabilityBrown Posts: 63
    hmmm early March seems to be the general consensus.  Would a compromise of giving them a trim round the edges (to reduce their current foot-print but save a bit of foliage) be counter-productive?
  • batwood14batwood14 Posts: 193
    Its been milder than normal which is why they have stayed green througout. Mine are the same and I jus tidied them up when I moved them to a temporary home for the time being. Unless they are straggley then I would leave them. Mine seem to like the temporary home and are roming away as if winter never happened! I have no need to to tidy them up.
  • CulpabilityBrownCulpabilityBrown Posts: 63
      batwood14 said:
    Its been milder than normal which is why they have stayed green througout. Mine are the same and I jus tidied them up when I moved them to a temporary home for the time being. Unless they are straggley then I would leave them. Mine seem to like the temporary home and are roming away as if winter never happened! I have no need to to tidy them up.

    Yeah, I was waiting for the nod from winter that never came! :l

    Okay, thanks for the feedback!

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