Help with Stellar Geranium

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

I got hold of an older stellar geranium 'Bird Dancer' last year about this time. I have had no real issues growing it, but I haven't YET had a single bud develop. It summered outside and I'm will be bringing it in in the next few days, I was hoping bright cool fall weather would produce blooms.

It's in a fairly lean soil (peat based with with some sharp sand and clay particle (FloorDry). I added some crushed egg shells powdered when I potted it last year to offset peat PH), I have very sparingly fertilized it (perhaps 4 times in a year, knowing that geraniums prefer to not be over-fertilized making leaves vs flowers).

It's cute, with petite leaves and slowly growing. It's been given full sun outside and a southern window when inside. It's watered thoroughly and allowed to come to almost complete dryness (but not to wilting point) in between watering.

I would love to see flowers on it :) Considering that at one time most grandmas had pelargoniums, I can't believe that I can grow orchids, bromeliads, streptocarpus, etc and can't bloom a geranium, but...umm the proof hasn't shown that I can.

Photo taken with flash under dawns early light :0

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

dbarron
Original Author
2 years ago
Nobody has grown a geranium successfully and wants to suggest advise?
katob Z6ish, NE Pa
2 years ago
Still nothing? Let me throw my two cents in and then I'm sure someone else will suddenly need to chime in to correct me.

I think a little more generous watering and feeding might get its vigor up enough to bloom, yet won't overdo it so much that it's all leaves. I think the stellars are sometimes a little poky about blooming, but when they do it's a nice flush, so worth it.

Have you been using the floor dry for a while? I tried something similar one year when repotting my amaryllis and they were NOT happy. I can't say for sure it was adding the clay product, but they were anemic and stressed looking for about a year until I repotted again. Other plants didn't mind, but they suffered and I suspected some kind of pH or salt overload.
Related Professionals
Atlantic City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Martinsburg Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Minneapolis Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Middletown Landscape Contractors · Wilmington Landscape Contractors · Bowling Green Landscape Contractors · York Landscape Contractors · Muskegon Landscape Contractors · Fargo Landscape Contractors · Hannibal Architects & Building Designers · Texarkana Architects & Building Designers · Enfield Architects & Building Designers · Cedar Rapids Architects & Building Designers · Buffalo Architects & Building Designers · Spokane Architects & Building Designers
dbarron
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Well it was outside all summer (which here is April through Nov) and got watered about the same amount as impatiens (I say that because some impatiens self-sowed in the cactii near it)...it should have had plenty of water. I did keep it on the lean side, because I understood geraniums were prone to all foliage and no flower if over-fertilized (plus I'm not much of a fertilizer either, heck I'm lazy). I can throw some more fertilizer at it this winter (inside).

Yeah, after seeing the Al 1:1:1, I bought some...25 lb bag..nearly all gone now. Hmm...points to ponder. I don't use it on everything, just things that seem to want a bit more drainage. It's also probably a 10-20% in the geranium pot. What would you use to compose a geranium soil, seems pure peat is not recommended?