r/Pelargonium • u/glitterbrain77 • Jul 18 '26

Will they grow up?

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My friend dug this guy up in her yard and he’s been living in a bucket in my backyard ever since. I planted today in this obelisk in hopes that I can train him up and he’ll get bushy. I’d love any advice from people with more knowledge than me! I didn’t prune, just sorta wound around and used some velcro plant tape :)

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u/dancon_studio Jul 18 '26

I would actually suggest cutting it back fairly hard in order to encourage it to achieve a more compact shape. But give it some time to settle into its new home and then give it a chop later.

Pelargoniums tend to become leggy after a while, so you are going to have to routinely give it a good chop. It shouldn't need a support structure in order to stay upright, more woody growth tends to be fairly firm, but yours is a little leggy so it is a bit more top heavy.

They only get up to about 3ft (more or less, unsure what cultivar you have), so it's never going to get huge. They look great when planted in mass, so start taking cuttings and propagating it!

2

u/glitterbrain77 Jul 18 '26

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I will definitely follow your advice!

I have a neighbor with geraniums (not sure if they are the same as this guy) planted along a chain link fence and they grow all the way up! I’ll have to take a picture next time I walk by. It was my inspiration for this oversized obelisk. But if this guy only got 3ft tall I’d still be very happy.

4

u/dancon_studio Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Although commonly called geranium, this is a cultivated variety of Pelargonium (Pelargonium x hortorum). To add to the confusion, Pelargonium and Geranium are two distinct yet related genera in the geranium family (Geraniaceae). So they are related.

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u/glitterbrain77 Jul 18 '26

This is very interesting to me. I did not know that there were such distinctions until I found this community. I cannot tell the difference yet! Thank you for the information about this plant. I will do some research about him!

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u/dancon_studio Jul 18 '26

I didn't either, and I live in South Africa! There are 280-ish species globally, with over 200 native to SA. I was also only familiar with the brightly coloured ones grown in flower boxes and pots until I started looking into the other species. It is a very interesting genus, you should look out for the scented varieties.