Geranium Blog

Coconut Explosion

The Coconut geranium mothership has been growing like crazy. It is now sending out runners that carry the blooms along with some leaves. The flowers are very bright pink with five narrow petals and are super-tiny!

Bud and Bloom Report

New buds were spotted yesterday on Pelargonium 'Ginger'. Also in bud are P. 'Phyllis' (Apricot), P. 'Sandalwood' and P. 'Mexican Sage' (Spicy).

Already in bloom are P. grossularioides (Coconut), P. x fragrans (Nutmeg), P. 'Clorinda' (Woodsy), P. 'Old Scarlet Unique' (Pungent), P. ionidiflorum (Celery), P. odoratissimum (Apple) and P. 'Orange'.

No buds yet for P. citrosum (Citronella), P. 'Dr. Livingstone' (Lemon-rose), P. 'Brilliant' (Pineapple), P. 'Lime', P. 'Chocolate Mint', P. 'Strawberry', P. 'Attar of Roses'.

Old Scarlet Unique, New Photo

Here is a nice picture of Pelargonium 'Old Scarlet Unique' with an entire bloom cluster open. Today we enjoyed a light rain and a rest from outdoor gardening.

Pelargonium is 2006 Herb of the Year

What great news! The International Herb Association has named the Pelargonium the 2006 Herb of the Year!

Clorinda Blooms

Pelargonium 'Clorinda' opened 2 flowers this morning. They are a lovely rich pink - my signature color! One flower has 6 petals and one has 7. Judging by the number of buds, she intends to bloom profusely. Clorinda is woodsy-scented.

How Red Do You Want It?

Pelargonium 'Old Scarlet Unique' fully opened two flowers today. The flowers are larger than most scented geranium flowers. They are similar in size to the flowers of a zonal geranium. The two top petals each have a dark splotch.

Bud Watch Scarlet Alert

P. 'Old Scarlet Unique' raised eyebrows around here with a shocking display this afternoon. For her part, Scarlet blew a kiss and demanded, "Who are you calling old?"

Bud Watch Continues

The buds of P. 'Phyllis' are as yellow as the border on her leaves. Phyllis is an apricot-scented geranium. Be sure to visit the Best of Buds slide show. It is a photographic study of unopened buds of scented geraniums. Seventeen slides.

Watching the Buds

Encouraged by the lengthening days of spring, the buds of Pelargonium 'Clorinda', a foresty-scented geranium, reach toward the sky.

While we wait for the flowers to appear, visit the Best of Buds slide show. You will see a photographic study of unopened buds of scented pelargoniums.17 slides of scented geranium pictures.

March Geranium To Do List

March certainly did arrive like a lion, but I now feel confident of Spring's imminent arrival. Might as well do something constructive while enjoying the opportunity to get outside in nice weather! Here is my list of garden tasks for scented geraniums across the southern United States:

• Pruning and clean-up should be complete. If not, get busy! Remove any dead or unhealthy leaves and stems.
• Root cuttings from your prunings. You can ensure that you always have a lovely gift plant ready for the right occasion and prevent the tragic unexpected loss of a beloved plant by having backups.
• Repot or transplant as needed. If not repotting, add a bit of fresh potting soil to the pot to replace any soil that has washed out over time.
• Fertilize! Your pelargoniums need a boost of good nutrition to start growing anew. I use Miracle Gro 15-30-15 mixed 1 Tbsp/gallon water every 2 or 3 weeks. My mother swears by the time release plant food for her container plants. Follow the directions of whatever you choose to use and maybe use a little restraint.
• Visit the Links page. I have added new links for scented geranium recipes and crafts. You're going to say, "I could do that!"

Covered with Flowers

Pelargonium grossularioides

Coconut geranium is covered with flowers - extremely tiny flowers. They are about 1/8" across but fortunately they are in little clusters so they can be seen. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they are hot pink!

Detail of Coconut geranium flowers and buds

Mystery Geranium Identified

While perusing the lovely geranium pictures at Hobbs Farm web site, I discovered the name of the red-leafed geranium I wrote about in an earlier post. It is Graffiti Pink Stellar Geranium. I learned that the stellar geraniums fall within the zonal geranium group and are so named because the flowers are star-shaped.

Buds and Blooms

Quite a few of my scented geraniums are beginning to produce buds: Phyllis, Old Scarlet Unique, Nutmeg, Mexican Sage, Clorinda, Orange, and Sandalwood. This is a very exciting development! The only one of these I have seen bloom before is Nutmeg.

P. ionidiflorum (celery) & P. odoratissimum (apple) in bloom 03/11/06

The only scented geraniums currently blooming are Celery and Apple. In fact, they arrived that way from the nursery. No sign of blooms yet from Strawberry, Ginger or Brilliant. And Dr. Livingstone, Citrosa and Lime were recently chopped back to almost nothing, but just wait a little bit.

Three New Scented Geraniums

This week I received three new scented geraniums from Geraniaceae.com. Left to right, they are P. 'Orange', P. odoratissimum (apple) and P. 'Sandalwood'. As with past experience, the service and plant quality was excellent.

If you live in the Southwest, it is time to get busy and order your mail order live plants. Soon it will be too hot for the plants to safely travel in this manner. You can find links to scented geranium nurseries on the Related Links page.

Celery Geranium in Bloom

Here is a better picture of Pelargonium ionidiflorum. It was blooming when it arrived in a box and shows no sign of letting up. I love the wild look of the narrow petals!

Beautiful Red Leaves

This is a fancy variety of zonal geranium. It has the striped leaf of a zonal, but they are fan shaped. Exposure to the cold has turned the leaves a lovely reddish tone.

Homemade Plant Markers

Update on the New Scented Geraniums

So how are the new plants doing a week after arrival? Here they are lined up for a group photo:

Back row: Pelargonium 'Old Scarlet Unique', P. 'Mexican Sage' (apricot), P. ionideflorum (celery), P. 'Strawberry'
Front row: Pelargonium 'Phyllis' (apricot), P. 'Attar of Roses', P. 'Clorinda' (woodsy)

Celery was blooming when it arrived and now carries a cloud of bright pink little flowers flying high above its head. I got Strawberry back in November. Its small leaves turned quite red with exposure to the cold. It is looking a bit scrawny because I took cuttings from it last week.