Garden and Flowers

GERANIUM
Geraniums do not primarily suggest plants for just one season. Genuine enthusiasts bring them indoors before the first night frost and put them, almost dry, in a cool, frost-free place, either indoors or in a greenhouse. Even without such facilities, it is still possible to enjoy the plants – huge quantities are propagated by seed or cuttings to provide flowers for a single summer. Geraniums cost less than a bunch of flowers and you can enjoy them for much longer. In May, flowering plants are on sale everywhere. Do not put them out-of-doors until all danger of frost has passed, because just a few degrees of frost are fatal to the plant. From the end of May, they will flower non-stop until they are killed by the first frost in October, or sometimes later.

Geraniums are ideal plants for all kinds of containers, even for hanging baskets. Their roots dislike permanent moisture, and it therefore does not matter if the soil dries up occasionally. Don’t water them until the soil feels dry. The leaves will remain smaller, but the plants will flower all the more freely. Do not give them plant food with a high nitrogen content. It is better for flowering plants to use special fertilizers containing very little nitrogen (N) and a relatively large amount of potassium (K). Geraniums like a sunny position, although trailing geraniums are quite happy with less sunlight. The geraniums on the market are all hybrids derived from several South African species. They are divided into upright (zonal) and trailing (ivy-leafed) geraniums. The former have roughly rounded, horseshoe-shaped leaves, often with margins in a different color. The plants grow straight upwards. Trailing geraniums have spreading shoots that may cover the soil. If they cannot find any support, they become pendulous, and are therefore often used in containers. The leaves are a smoother, fresher green, often five-pointed, and somewhat resembling those of ivy.

Pelargonium x hortorum ‘Multibloom Pink’ is one of the zonal geraniums grown from seed that are on sale, in flower, from April onwards. Plants from the Multibloom Series flower early, have a compact growth (about 25 cm/10 in high) and branch out vigorously. Pelargonium x hortorum ‘Multibloom Salmon’ is another freely flowering variety from the same series.

The seeds of Pelargonium x peltatum ‘Tornado Rose Nobix’ are planted as early as December. The plants will be in flower by April-May, and are then sold as pink-flowered trailing geraniums.

Pelargonium x peltatum ‘Summer Showers Burgundy’ can be sold as a flowering plant only three-and-a-half months after it was sown. This new variety has lovely, wine-red flowers.