Home gardeners find that rooting scented-leaved geraniums is not always easy. Often, they have a favorite plant they want to propagate and, after several attempts, meet with failure. Among the many kinds, some root very easily, while others are very tricky.
Of the popular scented-leaved geraniums, the lemon-scented and the rose-scented varieties root easily and quickly under common propagating methods.
Lemon-Scented Pelargonium Crispum
The lemon-scented (Pelargonium crispum) is a small stemmed plant with tiny crinkled leaves requiring considerably more water than most geraniums.
Take cuttings about 3 ¾” inches long and trim off all leaves from the bottom up to 1 ¼” inches.
Make a clean cut beneath an eye, dip the end into 3x rooting powder, and insert the cuttings in clean sand, deep enough so the lower leaves do not touch the sand.
Shade until signs of growth are evident. Then remove shade and keep plants a little drier.
Oak-Leaved Pelargonium Quercifolium
Oak-leaved varieties (P. quercifolium) are not too difficult. Take tender cuttings, but if they are hardened, root them under drier conditions. A 1x rooting powder is best.
Practically all hardy and easy-to-root are the flowering scented varieties, none of which demand anything beyond normal cultural conditions.
Again, water well, and allow the sand to become rather dry, but not arid, before watering again.
Spice-scented and fruit-scented varieties vary considerably in their needs, but here is how some of the more familiar kinds should be handled.
Use Rooting Powder
Cuttings from the nutmeg geranium (P. fragrans) and its varieties are made from the heaviest wood available and dipped in a No. 1 or No. 2 rooting powder.
These are dependable rooters, but it is best to leave them in the sand for three or four months until the tuberous-type roots have formed.
Apple-Scented Geranium
Apple-scented geraniums (P. odoratissimum) are propagated from the very short joints, radiating from the main stem and then potted directly into 2 ½ pots filled with good soil.
They will invariably lose all their leaves but will fill out with new growth.
Ginger, Lemon and Almond-Scented Geraniums
Ginger-scented, lemon-balm, and almond-scented are all very easy to root under ordinary conditions.
Cutting Strawberry
Variety Strawberry is an odd one requiring special care. Take cuttings similar to the lemon-scented varieties, but leave a little more top, so cuttings are about 4 ½ inches long.
Plant with the stems inserted 1 ¼ deep in sand. After several weeks, remove them to fresh sand, where they will root quickly.
Grape-Leaved Geranium
The grape-leaved geranium (P. vitifolium) requires similar care. Cuttings will remain in good condition in sand for six months, though they will not root.
If moved, however, to new sand after five or six weeks of planting, they will root immediately.
Gooseberry-Leaved Geranium
Gooseberry-leaved geranium (P. grossularioides) is another very small-wooded variety that should be well-shaded and given a little more than the usual amount of water, especially after the first week or two in the sand.
Mint-Scented Pelargonium Tomentosum
Mint-scented varieties (P. tomentosum), including Peppermint, Pungent Peppermint, and Joy Lucile, require only the usual practices given cuttings.
Wormwood or Southernwood
On the other hand, wormwood or southernwood (P. abrotanifolium) will lose all of its foliage but then grow out again.
Take top brandies and leave them on all the small branchlets, using the heavier stem below them to insert in the sand.
Generally, this means three inches above the sand and 1 ¼ inches below. If only tiny branches are used, make them as heel cuttings, but these require a long time to develop into decent plants.
Wormwood, like the nutmeg varieties (P. fragrans), comes better from larger cuttings, with a cluster of upper foliage and heavier wood for forming roots.
44659 by Fred A. Bode, Jr.