My scented geraniums just keep growing straight up and never branch and fill out. Should I cut them back? Where?
Thanks,
Gwendalo
Scented geraniums
Wished mine had survived this winter. My orange one just couldn't take that cold spell in December of 20 degrees for so long.
You can cut it back and it should get bushy with new growth this spring, Gwen.
Carol
Edited to write here since I can't post another reply.
Gwen, I didn't know you had to have the plants brought in???
I had planted it in the ground in the fall.
Geez, now I know. That the scented ger. have to be in pots and brought in.
Ok now for your dahlia question. The more light, meaning the more sun, the better for them to bloom. Mine are in full sun all day long so that is why I have so many blooms.
So if you can put them in the most sun and light, the better.
Take out some trees, hehe.
Carol
This message was edited Feb 8, 2006 8:41 AM
I brought mine indoors. They never would have survived here either.
When I cut them back, I'm going to try and get cuttings from the 'tops.' If they work out, I'll give you some at the next PNW roundup!
I sure am looking forward to getting those dahlia tubers this spring! Haven't decided where all they're going to go. How many hours of sunlight is ideal? We are very sheltered and shaded and it never really gets too terribly hot for long in any one spot in the yard, altho there are spots that get a lot of light.
Gwendalou
Scented geraniums are some of the easiest of plants to root from cuttings. Last year at one of my Master Gardener classes (on propagation), I got a cutting of a rose geranium and now I have so many!...but they're some of my favorite plants, so the more the merrier for me!!
Gwendalo, I would add that you just keep them ticking over in the winter and then cut them back when the sunlight gets stronger and they able to put on some stong growth. Otherwise if you cut them back now and you have them indoors in the warmth, they'll start to produce weedy growth, as the sun is not as strong as they like yet and that will spoil the overall shape of the plant for the coming season.
Matt
Daisy, how come you couldn't post another reply?
I just assumed they couldn't go in the ground here. I don't really know that for a fact. I think I read somewhere they weren't hardy down to 7 and 8, which is my zone range.
When I lived in Calif, they were in pots only because I inherited them that way, but I kept them outsite all year round. They didn't really do well. I was forever having to nurse one back to life after a NDE. I don't think I watered them enough. I'm not good about pot watering! It never occurred to me to put them in the ground there. I'm such a dummy!
I was good about watering mine all last summer as I had just bought them. They never really flourished altho they all grew straight up quite a bit! Maybe scented ger's just don't like me!
Matt, will take your advice and not start chopping on them just yet.
Gwendalou
DG wasn't working right at that time, Gwen.
Gwen, since you say you don't have a lot of sunshine, maybe that is why they don't grow very well for you.
Live and learn for me tho. That orange scented one had smelled so good too.
I have a chocolate mint in a pot and am wondering if it is alive now then. It is outside too. It was in a pot on the ground and it was going wild so I potted it up in a ceramic pot so it will be contained but of course, left it outside on my porch.
Carol
Maybe being in a container on your porch protected it enough. Worth trying to save at least!
Gwendalou
Your chocolate mint should come back. Here they die down to the ground during the winter and then there they are again in the spring.
Yes, I just looked at that choc. mint and it is roaring to go with tiny leaves coming up.
So, yes, you can't kill it, LOL
Carol
Good Morning
Can any of you tell me where to get seeds for scented geraniums.
I can find the plants but they run about $4.50 each plus shipping and that is far more than I can afford.
I am building a pergola and would love to have some potted scented geraniums under it. Have any of you ever grown a corkscrew vine on a pergola? This is my first pergola construction, I just hope it doesnt come tumbling down on my head. LOL Will a corkscrew vine spread enough to cover an 8 X 8 canopy? The pergola won't actually go up until the weather is warm enough for me to treat the wood with a sealer so it doesn't rot. Then that rascal is gonna go into the ground. I have put the canopy of it together in my living room, 3 times, to fine tune the way it fits together. My dog doesn't appreciate having that monster spread out on the floor. LOL It's nothing fancy, no lattice work or pretty designs, heck, I'll be happy if I can get the posts squared and even. Sure don't want it tilted .
Kathy
I'm new to scented geraniums and have a question. Do they come true from seed? Someone gave me some seed from a coconut variety and I wasn't sure how to proceed.
I have done cuttings from regular and hardy geraniums but haven't ever dealt with seed.
The coconut plant smelled so good and I thought it would be great with pineapple sage, my own little pina colada garden:) Thanks for any advice.
Kathy, I checked my JL Hudson catalog and they have a packet of mixed scented geranium seed: rose, peppermint lace, and oakleaf. Can't beat Hudson's Garden Watchdog rating or prices (shipping is a buck): and their germination is fantastic. Good luck: think I'll order these myself.
Thank ya !
I grow them here in Arkansas, but bring them indoors during the winter to the greenhouse, they tend to get mold on the leaves, which I have to pluck the leaves off then, but they grow well here in the hot summer months.
Gwendalou, your upright ones may be from not enough light but some varities are just plain upright, I get a whole lot more growth from plants in the ground but i keep one of each varity in a pot and bring it in for the winter, I;m 7b and have never had then survived the winter here but a client with a VERY shelter spot got an apple one to survive till early March, went in a freak snow storm
i love scented geraniums. They get real big for me and flower every year in spring.
The big mas in back of the other pots is a giant rose scented geranium mixed with cinamon scented see how big it is. I cut it way back each year.
I also have a giant lemon citranella sented one , but i dont have a pic.
I have never in my life seen one that huge, You are obviously doing something right
Man, I wish I was doing something right LOL
that's a beautiful picture
kathy
I absolutely love these plants. I've had the rose, orange, peppermint, lemon rose and lime. I also had the coconut, but somewhere I read that it wasn't really a pelargonium. Don't know what they said it was though. Anybody else heard that? Sure would like to get my hands on another coconut one though.
no, I"ve never heard that, It is a pelargonium, and there are two diff coconut scented geraniums, the up right and the trailing one. I have the trailing, and looking for the upright, every body that sells the upright is always sold out of it.
Hmm, I don't even remember where I read it. Somebody couldhave told me. You never know. Anyway where did you get yours? I would love to get another one.
Well, my original came from a trade, The trailing coconut can't be propigated very well, it's extremely hard to propigate that one, but it flowers big time and drops seeds all over the place, and up pop babies. I've had excellent luck germinating the coconut scented geranium by seed.
Unfortunately the babies usually get killed off by no sun, or being trampled on, I have to collect the seed and drop them in a pot of dirt, simply water, and they germinate for me just like that, I don't even cover them up.
Where do you find the different scented geraniums? I have the
everyday ordinary geraniums and looking for the scented and the
Ivy (trailing) geraniums.
Angela
We've got them at most plant nurseries around them. I'm trying to grow them from seed just for kicks, but call around: I'm sure there are tons around you.
Pretty much the same here, different nurseries tend to carry different varities. Loges(sp) used to carry a good number, but i haven't check with them in years I have good luck with the local botanic garden's plant sale, the herb society here has quite a good number of them and i can replace almost anything that I'm willing to keep. They are easy to root, so ya might try swapping with some people as they tend to be bit more expensive compared to the regular ones but still well worth the price.
jeff
That's exactly what everyone around here calls them. I wonder why you're not having any luck.
Maybe you need to gently slap their cheeks a few times to clear their heads before asking.
Well they call em that in Bama, Tennessee and Missisip, so i'd be suprised to find another name in Georgia, but ya never know, they aren't real common except for that citronella one ya find at Lowes, Home Depot and Wally world, ask for that at the discount places, if they have another one hopefully it will be close by, it is "usually" placed in the herb section. Try one of the top 3 nurseries in town and see if they have em, bit of a specialty item down here. If you live near a large town, you might have better luck checking there, when i was growing up the only one I ever ran into was apple and that was a gift. Till the nursery where i worked carried them for a season, but they didn't sell so they stopped.
Good point: they are always with the herbs when I find them.
I"ve bought from www.hobbsfarm.com
and papa genos too,
I also have been buying from www.holtgeraniums.com but through ebay not her web site. she seems to be more up on selling them through ebay and not her web site, she's pelar on ebay. she does have bad feedback on the garden watch dog, but not on ebay. I just bought some from her last week on ebay.
kathy
LOL, I doubt it, our local nursery doesn't get much else either, though last year they did get quite a bit of the coconut scented geranium in nice big hanging baskets of it.
kathy