Geranium is a perennial plant with evergreen foliage. Appreciated for its colorful and spectacular flowering, which adorns balconies, terraces and windowsills, this flowering plant is botanically called pelargonium. To make your geraniums last a long time and enjoy beautiful flowering, discover this simple gesture that you must do after purchasing this decorative plant.
Called balcony, garden or florist geranium, pelargonium is a flowering plant native to South Africa. This perennial plant is appreciated for its colorful flowers which adorn balconies and window sills.
What should we do after purchasing geraniums to make them last a long time and encourage their flowering?
After purchasing geraniums, it is important to repot them , and for good reason, the pots in which they are found are generally narrow and do not contain enough potting soil. Wait a few days before repotting, so that your plant does not suffer thermal shock.
Before repotting your geraniums, it is important to choose the new pot carefully. The diameter of this must be greater than that of the old pot by at least 5 cm. Choose a terracotta pot, to provide good stability to your plant, even in windy conditions. As for the potting soil, it must be adapted to the needs of your geranium. This flowering plant also appreciates a drained and rich soil, particularly in humus.
To repot your geraniums, first start by placing a layer of gravel at the bottom of the pot and then add a layer of clay balls to promote drainage. Stagnation of water could indeed lead to root rot. Then, fill the pot with a special geranium soil.
After preparing your new pot, it is time to take your geranium out of its old pot. To do this, hold the base of the stems and remove your plant gradually to release the rootball. Using a claw, remove the rest of the soil clinging to the roots and transplant your pelargonium into its new pot. You will then just have to compact the soil and water. Repotting allows the roots to renew themselves and therefore stimulate the flowering of the geraniums.
Note that it is important to repot your geraniums every two years, especially if you notice that the roots are starting to outgrow the pot, or that the foliage is starting to yellow. A narrow pot also prevents geraniums from developing properly.
The ideal time to repot geraniums is spring. Avoid repotting them during winter, because this season corresponds to their vegetative rest period.
How to maintain geraniums and obtain spectacular flowering?
To encourage the flowering of your pelargoniums and make them last a long time, good maintenance is essential. The florist’s geranium appreciates the sun. It is advisable to keep the pot in a place exposed to sunlight . Geranium can withstand high heat, provided it is watered regularly. However, be careful with excess water. Abundant watering of geraniums could risk drowning them. Hence the need to let the soil dry between two waterings.
To improve the flowering of your plants, consider fertilizing them with a special geranium fertilizer. It is also important to protect them from parasites and pests that ravage them, such as whiteflies, green aphids and even thrips. This allows you to promote healthy growth of your geraniums and also make them last a long time. Also don’t forget to prune your geraniums regularly. In fact, pruning a plant makes it more vigorous, protects it from diseases, and allows it to obtain abundant flowering. Geranium pruning is done to eliminate long, etiolated branches. Your geraniums will then be ready to flower when the temperatures are milder.
That said, this step of repotting geraniums after their purchase allows you to make these flowering plants last a long time and also encourage their flowering.
