How to Deadhead Geraniums for Healthy, Beautiful Flowers All Summer
Keep these colorful flowers looking their best throughout their growing season.
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Geraniums are beloved for their clusters of petite flowers in vivid shades of pink, coral, red, and white. And while these cheery flowers add low-maintenance color to your garden, either in-ground or in containers, they appreciate one regular care routine: deadheading.
By removing faded or wilting flowers where they meet the main stem, you can keep your geraniums blooming, healthy, and beautiful throughout the growing season. We spoke with experts to learn how to deadhead geraniums properly and why it's so important.
Meet Our Expert
Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed's From Seed to Spoon app
Andrew Bunting, vice president of horticulture at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Related: How to Care for Geraniums—a Beautiful Addition to Summer Gardens and Containers
Tools You'll Need
Scissors, clippers, or pruners
Tips
Geranium stems are thin enough to be removed by hand, but you can use scissors, clippers, or pruners as well. "Using your fingers is gentle and can allow for better control, making it a good option for delicate or young plants," says Carrie Spoonemore, co-creator of Park Seed's From Seed to Spoon app. "Tools can provide a cleaner cut and reduce the plant's risk of damage."
Instructions
Pinpoint the flowers you want to remove—those that are wilting, discolored, dead, or otherwise distracting from your plant's aesthetic.
Follow the stem from the base of the flower cluster to the main stem of the plant.
Pinch or cut the flower stem where it meets the main stem. "Make a clean cut to avoid damaging the plant," says Spoonemore.
Dispose of the deadheaded flowers in the compost or trash.
Water and fertilize to encourage new blooms.
Why You Need to Deadhead Geraniums
Deadheading geraniums benefits the plant in several ways: It encourages blooming, protects the plant's health, and makes it even more beautiful.
Encourage Blooming
Pinching or trimming off dead and dying flower heads helps the plant direct its efforts toward a profusion of new blooms. "With geraniums and other plants, the act of deadheading will encourage continued flowering," says Andrew Bunting, vice president of horticulture for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. "By removing the old flowers, the plant’s energy will go into the production of more and new flowers."
Improve Plant Health
While pruning encourages the growth of healthy stems, deadheading supports the health of the plant's multi-flowered blooms. Deadheading prevents potential disease from decaying blooms, says Spoonemore. Redirecting energy away from dead blooms has other health benefits, too: "Deadheading will improve the health and vigor of the plant," says Bunting.
Making the Plant More Beautiful
Dead flowers are a natural part of your geranium's life cycle—but probably not what you want to look at in your garden bed. "For geraniums, deadheading helps extend the blooming period and keeps the plant looking tidy and vibrant," says Spoonemore.
Related: 14 Annual Flowers That Bloom All Summer Long
How Often You Should Deadhead Geraniums
You don't need to set a schedule for deadheading geraniums. Just remove fading flowers as you find them. This could mean daily or weekly during the blooming seasons. "They should be deadheaded regularly, as often as every day if needed," says Bunting. "As soon as you see a spent flower cluster, remove the flower head and flower stem."
Frequently Asked Questions
How far down the stems do you deadhead geraniums?
"A typical geranium flowering has a ball or 'head' of flowers," says Bunting. "Supporting the flower head is a green stem that attaches to the main plant. This stem and flower head should be removed while deadheading."
How do you pinch back geraniums to keep them blooming?
Pinching back geraniums means removing the flower ball and stem at the point where it meets the main stem. If you can't get a clean separation doing this by hand, use small scissors or pruners to prevent the risk of disease, says Spoonemore.
Do all geraniums need to be deadheaded?
Not necessarily, says Spoonemore. "Zonal geraniums benefit significantly from it, while some varieties, such as ivy geraniums, are self-cleaning and naturally drop their spent blooms," she says. "Scented geraniums are grown more for their fragrant leaves than flowers, but deadheading can still enhance their appearance."
Read the original article on Martha Stewart.
