The various cranesbill species inspire with their beautiful, colorful flowers. However, with some geranium varieties, this is quickly over and the eponymous fruit buds develop. However, some of the early-flowering species and varieties are capable of producing a second flower - provided you want to cut them back in time. The plants then sprout again and bloom again in late summer or autumn.
By cutting back the cranesbill can be stimulated to a second flowering
Cut cranesbill after flowering
Gardeners refer to this cut as a remount cut, the plant in question "remounts". For this purpose, cut off the faded shoots of the carnations to just above the ground. To stimulate the second flowering, you can also provide the perennial with some liquid fertilizer. Depending on the type and variety, you now have to wait between six to eight weeks before the remounting pile can be seen. However, the second bloom is usually not quite as lush as the first. A repeat pruning is mainly possible with the geranium varieties that bloom early - around May / June - late blooming species usually do not bloom a second time.
Note flowering times
In some guidebooks you can read that cranesbills are generally cut in July. As a result, many a garden lover was surprised when his plants did not want to flower - they were cut back before flowering. Although many cranesbills flower from May / June, there are also species that flower late, such as the Siberian cranesbill (Geranium wlassovianum). Of course, these should not be pruned in July, otherwise the flowers will fail.
Cut back in late fall or early spring
Furthermore, many cranesbills tend to "fall apart" over time. For this reason, another pruning either in late autumn or early spring is recommended, before the new shoots. This applies in particular to the following geranium species:
- Cambridge cranesbill (Geranium cantabrigiense), cut back in spring
- Gray cranesbill (Geranium cinereum), cut back in spring
- Heartleaf cranesbill (Geranium ibericum), cut back in spring
- Magnificent cranesbill (Geranium magnificum), cut back in late autumn or winter
- Gnarled Mountain Cranesbill (Geranium nodosum), cut back in autumn
- Blood-red cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), cut back in autumn
- Siberian cranesbill (Geranium wlassovianum), cut back in late autumn
tips
However, whether you cut back your cranesbill after flowering also depends on its propagation. Many geranium varieties (except for hybrids such as the magnificent cranesbill) sow themselves quite reliably, which is only possible if the fruits and seeds can form.