Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
flowerchild3

Keep seeds from Geranium?

flowerchild3
18 years ago

I'm new to growing Geraniums. I bought a couple 'seed geraniums' from a local garden center. Can I save seeds from it and plant them? Will they come true to seed? Does 'seed geranium' mean you can grow them from seed? I'm really confused about the different types of Geranium.

Comments (5)

  • melrt968
    18 years ago

    Hi
    What exactly do you mean by 'seed geraniums'? Are these plants that have been raised commercially from seed? Are you talking about Pelargoniums or Geraniums? If you ar talking about Pelargonium culture I suggest that you do a Google search on Pelargonium culture where you will find many sites that will give you good advice including Geranium (pelargonium) culture for home gardeners.
    There is a great deal of confusion about the differences and similarities between Geraniums and Pelargoniums.

  • chrissy752001
    18 years ago

    These plants are actually Pelargoniums. But the ones I bought from Home Depot, so we could have different colors, also say "seed Geraniums". I believe what this actually means is that they were grown commercially from seed.

    I am not sure if they come true to seed or not. But was going to try them from seed to see. You may want to do that too if you like experimenting. I also plan on taking cuttings from the plant over the fall as these plants are very easy to do that with! Hopefully, for us, there will be many baby plants next spring and no need to buy for the store again. If you look around this forum I am sure you can find instructions on how to do that if you never have. (It's really easy.. honestly the less you fuss over it, the better they usually do.)

    I had good luck with this. Just broke off a pieces of plant and stuck it in the dirt and most of the time they grew! :) Kids like messing with the cuttings too. I hope you enjoy these plants. They are fantastic looking, so easy to care for, and fun to experiment with!

  • cantstopgardening
    18 years ago

    I agree with taking cuttings of pelargoniums. (BTW, the naming mix-up occurred when old Linnaeus was going about naming things. He called these plants geraniums, thinking they were the same as the true geraniums. well, he realized his mistake, renamed them pelargoniums, but the Victorians with their little glass hothouses, had already fallen in love with the plants, and getting the name cleared up just wasn't going to happen easily. So, 100 years later, we have confusion about true geraniums and pelargoniums. :-) I have several of both. Great plants! (I'll admit the pellies are my favorite though. I love a plant that will come indoors and bloom it's head off all winter if I give it a sunny window.)

    Back to the cuttings- I have accidently broken a piece off, noticed it the next day, and meerly stuck it in the garden soil. Didn't really take any more care than that. It rooted and bloomed just fine! I love a plant like that!

    Keep us posted on how the seed-saving goes. I'm going to try growing more frm seed myself.

  • cmh35
    18 years ago

    Help

    I have 2 gernaniums that I bought from a garden show and they were not label and I am trying to find out the name of them.. The leaf is light green with a beautiful bright light red and the flower is a red also.. also do I want to dig these up to continue with them or take cuttings.. to
    muliply.. I have worked in nurseries where you deal with the old fashion geraniums and they are much more showy leaves... if that helps
    thanks
    carolyn in fairview, tn

  • melrt968
    18 years ago

    Hi Carolyn,
    I think you have Pelargoniums. If you want to identify these plants try and borrow a book from your local library or post their picture on this forum. I do not know if you get frost in Tenessee if so, you can lift Pelargoniums before the the first frost pot them up and bring them into a well lit frost free situation such as a window sill. If you decide to leave the plants in the ground overwinter I would suggest that you take cuttings from them and overwinter the cuttings in a frost free environment. when taking cuttings of Pelargoniums: do not use rooting powder or liquid and do not tent your cuttings.
    If you requie further help please ask.
    Ron

Sponsored
Ed Ball Landscape Architecture
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars30 Reviews
Exquisite Landscape Architecture & Design - “Best of Houzz" Winner