Waking up geraniums after winter

Now is the time to get your geraniums out and prune them. Some of them may look good and not need much pruning, others may look leggy and need some care. Here are some tips on how to bring your geraniums back to life after the winter.

In February or March it is time to get your geraniums out and prune them. The geraniums will look different depending on how they were stored over the winter. If they were kept in a really cool environment, it is likely that nothing much will have happened. However, if the geraniums were kept in a cool room indoors, they will probably have started to grow and sprout new shoots during the winter. 

You can hard prune geraniums without harming them. Just make sure you save a few shoots and they will be nice and bushy again in a few months.

Method:

1. Remove withered leaves and cut off branches that have no shoots. You can also cut off long branches even if they have new shoots to prevent your geranium from becoming leggy. Cut above a node with clean pruners or a knife. 
2. Remove any soil that comes loose from the roots and put the plant in a new pot, then top up with new flower compost.
3. Water the plant and place in a bright area. 
4. Once the plant has started to grow, it's time to start adding some nutrients. 

The branches you remove can be used as cuttings. Fill a pot with seed compost, insert the cutting and water lightly and you have a new plant.

One tip is to prune the plant a few times in the spring, so it branches out and you have a nice plant for the summer. You can also remove the early flowers if you want the plant to grow more. 

However many different geraniums there are, there are just as many different guides on how to prune your geraniums. Some people let plants recover between transplanting and pruning, some cut them back in the autumn. There are many different approaches, so try whatever suits you best to bring your geraniums back to life.