Geraniums as good by any other name
The plants which are commonly referred to as Geraniums are usually Pelargoniums with both genera belonging to the Geraniaceae. This takes its name from the Greek ‘‘geranos’’which means ‘‘crane’’, in reference to the shape of the plant’s seed capsule which is in the shape of a crane’s bill. Pelargoniums are mostly native of South Africa, with a few species from the rest of Africa, the Middle East and Australia.
Pelargoniums are tolerant of only light frosts and can be treated as annuals in colder areas. They need to be planted in well-drained soils with full sun to only light shade. Once established pelargoniums are quite drought tolerant.
The plants we are most familiar with and usually call geraniums are the shrubby hybrid pelargoniums, invaluable for pot cultivation, bedding plants, and wonderful for training up over unsightly objects such as tree stumps and posts and can be trained up a collar of netting. The small street in which my parents lived at Waikanae had growing up to six feet up the lampposts, a wonderful showing of climbing pelargoniums of all shades.
They are planted chiefly for their flowers, and coloured leaves in the case of the zonal pelargonium. The flowers come in shades of white, pale to dark pink, purple–pink, wine, to true scarlet reds.
The spectacular flowering occurs throughout summer and can be much improved by removing spent flower stems and lightly pruning older wood to produce new shoots. The main pruning should take place in late autumn after the flowering has finished.
Most of the pelargoniums we see are hybrid cultivars. As pelargoniums interbreed readily the first hybrids appeared shortly after the plants were introduce into cultivation, of mainly four sections: Ivy leaf; dwarf; scented-leaf; zonal.
The ivy leaf section shows a wide variety of growth forms from compact miniatures to vigorous scramblers.
They are very hardy and are tolerant of damp soils and humidity. The dwarf forms are very suitable for container growing.
Dwarf pelargoniums resemble the zonal types in stature and often have fully double blooms. Very suitable for pot culture, window boxes and troughs. The scented –leaf hybrids are chiefly grown for their scented foliage which is usually reminiscent of mint, camphor and cedar, although they can have very showy flowers as well.
Most of the popular pelargoniums and the ones we usually call geraniums, are of the zonal leaved types. They have a low bushy habit with light green, rounded leaves with lightly scalloped leaves.
The individual flower up to 3cm across are held in a tight bunch well above the foliage on upright stems throughout the warmer months.
Many cultivars in this section have very attractive foliage, variegated in shades of white, grey, pinks, reds and greens.