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Asked by:
Wendy Lewis
Posted at:
January 26, 2025
I have several lovely scented geraniums from Richters (not surprising, because you folks are TOPS and I've always had fantastic plants and seeds from you folks!). The plants are very healthy and happy, but some of them don't seem to want to flower for me – can you suggest anything?Some scented geraniums come from very sunny areas of the world (e.g. South Africa) and need more sun than an east facing balcony can supply and therefore never get enough light and possibly heat to bloom. Our display greenhouse gets very hot in summer and our scented geraniums do flower every summer. However you may find that if you do get them to bloom, you will be disappointed! The plants with the nicest scents have very sparse pale pink flowers and you may be just as happy to just enjoy their lovely scent.
They are all getting lots of sun (east facing balcony), enough but not too much water, and, once every 2 weeks, miracle grow (I also have crushed eggshells on top of the soil – they seem to like this). I know some plants (e.g., orchids) are "encouraged" by putting them in the fridge for a while, but I don't want to attempt this with my geraniums unless I know it has a chance of working and won't harm them.
I'm also wondering if some of the varieties that tend to get a bit "viney" (e.g., "Prince of Orange') will still produce flowers once they are in this state. I've given plants from cuttings to several friends (plants are at least 1 year old) and these plants are doing very well in terms of stem and leaf growth, but don't seem to produce flowers.
I've had great luck with my geraniums and tried a few new varieties this year – the knotted geranium with yellow flowers is very beautiful, in part because it is so unusual. This plant is becoming one of my favourites – I just love it and will probably have to order more for gifts next year!!!