How to propagate ‘pellies’

Take pelargonium cuttings before winter, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

IF you are new to taking cuttings, pelargoniums are a good place to start. Also known as bedding geraniums, they are a common summer garden sight, usually bought to bring a few months of colour to beds and containers, before being chucked on the compost heap in autumn.

However, ‘pellies’ are perennial and with a little care can be kept going from year to year. They are tender, so they won’t survive winter outside, but they can be lifted and moved somewhere frost-free for winter.

I also recommend taking cuttings in autumn before you lift them to act as a back-up plan if the mother plants fail in winter. You can also do this with other less hardy perennials including fuchsias and penstemons, though cuttings from dahlias are taken from shoots when the tubers first start to sprout.

Below I show you how to take and pot up pelargonium cuttings. There is some debate over the use of hormone rooting powder or gel, which stimulates healthy root growth.

Some experts say it is safe to use with pelargonium cuttings, others claim it can encourage the stems to rot.