What makes geraniums bloom

I had a similar situation with my Geranium plant. I started it from seed, took good care of it, then planted it outside after all risk of frost had passed. Geranium flowers, as we know them, are flowers used in annual borders and pots. They have a very specific foliar scent and flowers that bloom off long, thin stems.

Popular flower colours include red, pink and white. However, the Geranium flower is improperly named. Geranium varieties can be found in white, red, pink, purple, salmon and even orange. Unfortunately, many gardeners struggle with geraniums by mid-summer. Without proper care, plants can become leggy, and the blooms sparse and underwhelming.

In fact, with just a few simple tips, you can have your geraniums blooming and booming strong in a flash — and staying that way into late fall!

Although most gardeners think of geraniums as an annual, they are actually a perennial plant. That is, if you live in the warmer, tropical climates of zones 10 and 11, where winters never see a hard frost or freeze. But because they have their roots as a perennial, there are a few key aspects to getting them to bloom more profusely when growing as an annual.

And that all begins with pinching these fast growing plants back to create a more compact, robust growth pattern. One that not only creates a thicker, more dense set of blooms, but a plant that can produce a higher number of additional blooms throughout the growing season.

Geraniums tend to become quite leggy and sparse if left to grow on their own accord. Especially when they are growing in pots, containers or hanging baskets. With limited soil space, the plants tend to grow outward as fast as they can. For this reason, it is important to pinch back stem growth to force growth that is more dense and thick.

This can be done easily with a pair of scissors, garden pruners, or even with sharp fingernails. Pinching back encourages the plant to grow multiple shoots from the pruned stems. It allows their roots to expand with ease and to absorb nutrients quickly. And not just the nutrients found in the soil, but those provided through additional fertilizing through the season. Both of which will keep your geraniums from producing new blooms and from flowering.

But not only is the condition of the soil important, so to is the amount of soil available for each plant to grow. That is especially important when growing in baskets, containers and pots. Avoid containers that are shallow or small in circumference.

Not only do plants run out of nutrients and soil space, smaller containers can overheat quickly in the hot summer sun. In the process, they dry out quickly and damage the roots over time. It is actually a simple formula for success: The more room and space that is available for soil, the better your plants will perform.

For pots or hanging baskets, select vessels that are at least 12 to 14 inches in diameter. When planting in bed spaces, always amend the soil with plenty of compost to keep soil light and productive. If left to their own growing patterns, geraniums tend to grow more upward than outward. This can leave plants and their ensuing blooms looking thin and sparse.

But by pinching back the foliage growth early in the season, you can create a stockier, more full-bodied plant. This forces the plant into developing new shoots below. Scale back the use of fertilizer to; at the most once every 2 weeks with a well balanced general soluble liquid fertilizer ensuring the the ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and potassium is even NPK. Once flower buds begin to emerge, geraniums display more flowers with a fertilizer that contains a higher concentration of potassium as potassium encourages flowering.

Feeds for tomato plants contain a good amount of potassium and are great for promoting germanium blooms or you can use a specific product for geraniums available from amazon and garden centers which are higher in potassium to promote flowering.

Therefore the reason your geraniums are not flowering may just be because it is too early in the season and they are waiting for warmer weather. Once the weather does stay consistently warm geraniums can flower all Summer until the temperatures decreases in the Fall.

It is worth noting that a significant fluctuation in temperature can cause stress to geraniums , so moving a potted geranium from a warm house to the comparatively much cooler garden can cause shock which can prevent flowering. Move geraniums outdoors for a few hours a day for around 2 weeks, gradually increasing their time outdoors to condition them to the contrast in temperatures and the geranium is less likely to suffer shock and therefore more likely to flower. Keep in mind that geraniums are generally not frost tolerant and should either be brought indoors if potted or treated as a flowering annual plant in garden with cooler climates.

Geraniums are drought and heat tolerant but they require particular soil conditions to thrive and flower to their best:. In well draining light soil, amended with lots of compost and with the use of fertilizer geraniums are more likely to display a good amount of flowers. The reason orchid flowers and flower buds fall off is because of a sudden change in temperature or humidity. Orchids flowers and buds fall off due to low humidity or if the temperature increases or