Geranium Blog

Scented Geranium Purchased in Las Vegas Nursery

I was delighted to discover a scented pelargonium at the Star Nursery on W. Cheyenne, Las Vegas, NV. Last year, although 2006 was the Pelargnium's turn as Herb of the Year, not a single scented geranium could be found locally. And I even found one I didn't have. I used to have it, but you know how that goes. ;)

Coconut Geranium Seedlings

What do you look for if you're trying to grow Coconut geraniums from seed? It takes 10 to 14 days for the seeds to germinate. The lower seedling in the picture is how they look when they first come up: approximately 1/3 of an inch from leaftip to leaftip. The next leaves will be round and scalloped.

I read something interesting the other day. It turns out that growing from seed is the preferred method of propagating P. elongatum (Upright Coconut), P. odoratissimum (Apple) and P. grossularioides (Coconut). All three of these varieties are pretty easy to collect seeds from, but not so easy to take a cutting. So here comes my next experiment...

Pretty in Pink

Pelargonium 'Clorinda' has the most luscious, fluffy pink flowers! She is a large plant and a heavy bloomer. Seeing her bloom today was like seeing an old friend. The scent is described as pungent, eucalyptus or cedar. To my nose, its a pleasant woodsy scent.

I'm excited to report that buds are appearing on many of the scented geraniums! YAY!

Apple Geranium In Bloom

Spring has just arrived and already I'm well behind schedule with my gardening chores. The scented geraniums are loving the early warm weather and so am I. For the geraniums, it is time to prune a bit and repot. And don't forget to root some cuttings!

Not Dead Yet

This Dr. Livingstone geranium died from
the cold - except for this sprout.

I was convinced this Pelargonium 'Dr. Livingstone' (lemon-rose scented) was a complete loss. We had a cold snap in late December during which temperatures fell to 22 degrees F. So I knew this was dead. When I put my hand around the trunk to yank it out of the pot, I spotted the little green sprout at the base! So I decided to cut away the dead part and let the plant grow back from the new growth. The lesson here is "Look before you pull."

My cold weather emergency plan worked well. All the "movable"-sized pots were brought into the kitchen. During the fall, I made sure that I had new extra plants of the varieties that were in "non-movable"-sized pots. So even though the plants in the largest pots couldn't be saved, I haven't lost any varieties from my collection.

More Pelargonium/Cold Weather Observations:

More Sensitive to Cold: P. 'Ginger', P. 'Lime', P. 'Variegated Prince Rupert', P. 'Dr. Livingstone', P. elongatum - Showed signs of distress from the cold sooner than the others.

Less Sensitive to Cold: P. grossularioides stayed outside throughout the cold snap and although suffering some cold damage, has recovered nicely.