ROYAL VARIETY SHOW!
Queen Victoria loved geraniums for their bright and cheery ways
The world’s finest, reddest geraniums grow just outside Buckingham Palace. every summer — in accordance with Queen Victoria’s wishes — they’re planted in formal beds near the main gates. And in this royal wedding year they’ve never looked better.
We call them ‘geraniums’ but the scientific name is pelargonium. Most of the 230 wild species come from Africa.
These have been crossed to produce thousands of garden varieties. Some are prized for their flowers; others have decorative, often aromatic, foliage.
For a wide choice try specialists like Fibrex, fibrex.co.uk; Woottens of Wenhaston,
woottensplants. com, or Allwoods, allwoods.net. July is a little late for bedding out but you can add them to containers any time. Young plants — even puny ones — will grow rapidly and flower until October.
Pelargoniums are susceptible to frost but tough otherwise. So overwintering is easier than with most tender plants. An unheated greenhouse or even a cold-frame could give enough protection in a gentle winter.
Most varieties are easy to raise from cuttings and they make lovely house or conservatory plants. So you could overwinter your favourites by keeping them on a windowsill. PELARGONIUM flowers vary hugely in shape and size. Colours run from crimson, orange and scarlet through to pink, mauve, purple or white. leaves can be rounded, oblong, lobed or filigree, often with conspicuous markings or fragrance.
The most distinctive varieties combine handsome foliage with striking flowers. Zonal varieties such as classic red ‘geraniums’ are probably the best known.
Among favourite old-fashioned zonals, Caroline Schmidt has cherry red, semi-double flowers cooled by creamy white and green leaf margins.
The leaves of scarlet-flowered Dolly Varden are patterned with cream, green and rusty bronze. Frank headley has salmon flowers and cream-edged leaves.
new varieties are introduced annually. last summer i tried the Calliope and Caliente series. Trailing species in their breeding have given them a semi-pendant habit, good for pots.
For tiny spaces, dwarf zonal varieties blend good foliage with jolly flowers. Friesdorf grows 18cm tall with dark leaves and scarlet flowers. Bold Cherub has semi-double candy pink blooms. For border edging, try the green and cream oddity Madame Salleron, which never flowers.
BEST FOR COLOUR FRAGRANT FOLIAGE
ENTHUSIASTS grow as many pelargoniums for foliage as for flowers. lady Plymouth has a bushy habit, with lacy cream and green, aromatic leaves and small lilac-mauve flowers.
in contrast, peppermintscented P. tomentosum has huge, hoary leaves, tiny white flowers and a rampant sprawling habit. upright lemon Fancy smells like sherbet lemon and has rosy lilac flowers.
Aromatic hybrids with larger flowers include rose- purple Copthorne, and royal Oak whose deep-lobed leaves have dark markings. islington Peppermint is compact with maroon and white flowers.
Pelargoniums are easy to manage. i pot mine in compost, watering regularly and feeding fortnightly. They need sun but will put up with part-shade.
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