Trailing Geranium (Ivy Geranium, Storksbill Geranium)
Pelargonium peltatum. GERANIACEAE.
Planting and Growing Trailing Geranium
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow trailing geranium in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of trailing geranium
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for trailing geranium
- Season of bloom and planting time for trailing geranium
- When, how deep, and where to plant trailing geranium
- How to plant trailing geranium
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of trailing geranium
- Landscape and container uses of trailing geranium
- Comments about trailing geranium and its features
Growing Trailing Geranium
Many cultivars of climbing or trailing, fleshy, evergreen perennial herbs, to 3 ft. (90 cm) tall or long. Shiny, green, sometimes red- or white-fringed, maplelike, lobed leaves, to 3 in. (75 mm) wide, on trailing stems.
Cranesbill, plants of the genus Geranium, are closely related to Pelargonium pelatum.
See also Cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum; Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum; and Florist’s Geranium, Pelargonium species and hybrids, all with similar habits and care needs.
Strawberry Geranium, Saxifraga stolonifera, is an unrelated species with an appearance that somewhat resembles many geranium features.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many pink, red, white, star-shaped, single- or double-petaled, fragrant flowers, 1/2–2‑in. (12–50‑mm) wide, in round clusters on long stalks, in summer–autumn.
Best Climates
Semi-hardy. Plant as annual, zones 3–7; ground hardy, zones 8–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Average. 7.0–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring, zones 3–8; autumn, zones 9–10, in full sun, 15 in. (38 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep moist. Water after soil dries; avoid wetting foliage. Fertilize monthly during growth. Deadhead spent flowers. Pinch growth tips to promote bushiness. Propagate by cuttings, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for hanging baskets, beds, borders in cottage, formal gardens. Aphid, spider mite and slug, snail susceptible.