Did You Really Plant Geraniums?

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Mention geraniums, and most gardeners envision the wrong plant. True geraniums are a native plant growing prolifically in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. The geraniums we grow in our garden are not geraniums at all, but are pelargoniums.

The cultivated geranium (Pelargonium hortorum) was among the earliest plants grown in the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. They provisioned the East Indies trading ships, and it is likely that ship's surgeons and others brought samples of these plants to Europe.

By the early 1700s, the precursors of all our present day geraniums had been introduced into England. Thomas Jefferson sent geraniums from France to a friend in Philadelphia in 1786. Early in the 19th century many species were being grown in England and hybridizers started crossing the plant. Robert Sweet wrote a five-volume work on geraniums between 1810 and 1820, and geraniums have continued to increase in popularity to the present day.

Most gardeners remember geraniums sitting in the kitchen window as one of the few green plants to survive the winter. Your grandmother, as did mine, probably had a few of these to brighten that area and provide blossoms during the gloomy, snowy days.

Each year an additional estimated 40 million plants are grown by commercial growers. Other millions are started by home gardeners. Because of their use both indoors and out, they are generally recognized as one of the most popular flowering plant in the United States.

There are many different kinds of geraniums and hundreds of varieties. Cascade geraniums are heat tolerant and make a good container plant. Hybrid geraniums are mostly double flowered and also work well in window boxes, hanging baskets and other containers.

They like high light, but may burn if planted in a hostile southern or western exposure. They provide outstanding color in sunny locations in beds and as container plants. They also combine well with other flowers for outstanding color throughout the year.

Don't overlook the scented geraniums. The flowers are not generally showy, but the scented leaves offer wondrous odors of apple, rose, mint, nutmeg, lemon and many others. Geraniums are generally grown as annuals, but in warmer climates they are short-lived perennials. One specialty geranium, often sold as a potted plant, is the Lady Washington or Martha Washington geranium. These are not particularly successful as summer flowering plants in our area because they need temperatures below 60 degrees to set buds.

Geraniums do best in drier areas with warm days and cool nights. They do best in full sun, but will tolerate up to a half day of partial shade. Soils must be well drained, with only moderate amounts of fertilizers. Excessive fertilizer causes large, green plants, but relatively few blossoms.

Controversy continues among geranium fanciers as to whether geraniums should be grown from seed or cutting. Seed geraniums are easy to grow and seed propagation eliminates many diseases that are propagated through cuttings.

Some varieties are not available from seed, so many geraniums continue to be propagated by cuttings. Cuttings from reliable growers have been "virus indexed" to make sure that diseases are not a problem. Gardeners should have few if any problems with diseases if they purchase good stock.

Geraniums must be started indoors and set out as tranplants. The crop takes too long to be direct-seeded in the garden. Geraniums can be planted outdoors after danger of frost is past. Pinch the tops and remove the flowers from small plants to form larger, bushier plants that will give a greater show later in the season.