After hibernation, February is the time to cut the geraniums, repot them and prepare them for the garden or balcony.
From around February, the overwintered geraniums begin to form new shoots and get ready for spring.
In order for them to grow nice and bushy, the budding plants should be pruned back a little.
But there are also other care measures to make the geraniums fit for the outdoor season.
Pruning geraniums: make them fit for the garden after the winter
+
In early spring, the overwintered geraniums look forward to fresh, new soil.
© CHROMORANGE/Imago
Geraniums are perennial plants that will grow into impressive specimens if you let them.
However, they lignify quickly, so annual pruning is important in order to maintain the joy of flowering and to prevent the plants from becoming bare.
The generous pruning of the geranium may seem a bit drastic at first, but it keeps the plant healthy and it will soon sprout again with robust shoots.
When spring cleaning the geraniums, proceed as follows:
Cut back the main shoots of standing geraniums and noble geraniums to 15 to 20 centimeters or optionally to around four leaf nodes per shoot.
Scented leaf and hanging geraniums are left a little longer.
Remove diseased, dead, wilted leaves and stems.
In addition, new Geiltriebe that are too thin and have shot up due to the high temperature in the winter quarters.
They are weak and will hardly flower.
By March at the latest, geraniums should be repotted in fresh soil, preferably mixed with some compost.
You clean out dead roots, and you can also cut off a piece of healthy ones.
You can find even more exciting garden topics in the regular newsletter of our partner 24garten.de.
With twelve perennials throughout the year: Thanks to them, the garden blooms every month
With twelve perennials throughout the year: Thanks to them, the garden blooms every month
The newly potted geraniums are watered vigorously and placed in a bright location at around 18 degrees Celsius until they can be placed on the balcony or terrace after the ice saints in mid-May.
In the meantime, you can put the plants outside temporarily to harden them off, but temperatures below five degrees Celsius should be avoided.
Start fertilizing the plants about a month after repotting.
List of rubrics: © CHROMORANGE/Imago