Geranium Blog

Coconut Geranium Seeds

Seeds spring forth from Coconut Geranium seedheads

Pelargonium grossularioides is one of the scented geraniums that can be grown from seed and still remain true. And what a seed producer it is! The seeds are easy to collect. I just snip off the seedhead clusters after they pop open and drop them in a pie pan to let them dry further. After several days shake the seeds into a clean dry container for storage. And keep them away from any breezes. They have little fuzzy parachutes (apparently invisible to the scanner) that easily carry them hither and yon.

Sandalwood Geranium Gets Back to Business

Pelargonium 'Sandalwood'

Sandalwood Geranium started blooming on April 1, but stopped a week later. Now she is back on track with this sparkling display. What a flirt!

Mexican Sage Geranium Blooms On

Pelargonium 'Mexican Sage' (spicy scent)

Here is a better picture of the blooms of Mexican Sage Geranium. It began blooming on April 13. Each cluster of blooms is like a tight little nosegay. Each petal is light pink in the center with darker pink streaks. The outer edge of the petal fads to white.

Dr. Livingstone Blooms

Pelargonium 'Dr. Livingstone' aka Skeleton Rose

Dr. Livingstone is a lemon-rose scented geranium. The leaves are deeply divided and have a delightful lacey look. The flowers are very small - white with purple lines on the top petals.

Coconut Geranium Seedhead Update

Coconut Geranium covered with seedheads

Pelargonium grossularioides (Coconut) looks downright prickly with all these seedheads. I started collecting the seeds today. When the seedhead dries out, it pops open and the seeds are hanging there with little fuzzy parachutes to be carried away by the wind. To collect, I just cut off the whole seedhead cluster after they have opened and drop it into a bowl to dry further.

The Mantids Emerge

Hatchling praying mantids
emerge from their egg case

Several weeks ago I picked up a carton of 2 praying mantis egg cases at the nursery. I hung one on a tomato plant and another in a climbing rose. This afternoon I was lucky enough to observe the hatchlings as they emerged from one of the egg cases! They were greyish and about 1/2" long. According to the package, 100-200 of these insects can come from one egg case.

These guys are superb natural pest control. And they are an especially good deal for gardeners: The praying mantis tends to hang around close to where they hatched, while lady bugs tend to wander off.

A newly hatched praying mantis
starts hunting for food

Chocolate Mint Geranium in Bloom

Pelargonium 'Chocolate Mint'

Chocolate Mint is one big honking scented geranium, but its flowers are small and dainty pink with a bit of purplish decoration on the top two petals.

Orange Geranium Gone Wild

Pelargonium 'Orange' struts her stuff

We saw this coming a week ago, but even so, who would have imagined this display? Very impressive! I am more and more crazy about this scented geranium.

Signs of Fertility

Seedheads of Pelargonium grossularioides (Coconut scented)

I am completely familiar with Coconut Geranium's (P. grossularioides) willingness to engage in "seedy" behavior - Oh, Ha ha ha - but was surprised to find seedheads on Upright Coconut as well. One funny detail I noticed is that the seedheads of Upright Coconut are all pointing down, but the seedheads of regular Coconut Geranium are all pointing up. More photos as the situation develops.

Seedheads of Pelargonium 'Upright Coconut'

Flashy Phyllis

Pelargonium 'Phyllis' (apricot scented)

That Phyllis is one flashy gal! How do you like the deep coral pink flowers over the bright yellow and green foliage? Phyllis is apricot scented and seems to be very neat and tidy.

Apple Geranium Nonstop

Pelargonium odoratissimum (apple scented)

Here is another scented geranium that has been blooming nonstop. It arrived with flowers back on March 8 - so that's 6 weeks and still producing. Apple seems to be a fast-grower, too.

Celery Geranium Still Blooming

P. ionidiflorum

Pelargonium ionidiflorum has been blooming since it first arrived on February 22 - almost 2 months ago. And it really does smell like celery!

A Visit From the Easter Geranium

Pelargonium 'Orange'

A beautiful geranium for a beautiful day! Look at all the buds on this plant. Enthusiastic, to say the least.

A Pelargonium Shopping Trip

Zonal geraniums 'Distinction' and 'Alpha'

Yesterday I visited two local nurseries, Plant World and Star Nursery. I wanted to see if they had any scented pelargoniums. No luck. Maybe in a couple weeks. I did find these two interesting Zonal geraniums.

Pelargonium Lime

New baby P. 'Lime' can't wait to bloom

What a cutie! The baby is blooming; the parent plant is barely starting to produce buds! I think I'll give this Lime geranium to my Mom for Easter.

Pelargonium Mexican Sage

P. 'Mexican Sage' holds its pink flowers in a tight cluster

It's been a long wait, but now we get a look at Mexican Sage's flowers. Pelargonium 'Mexican Sage' is a spicy scented geranium, a sport of P. 'Apricot'. I'm beginning to get the idea that Mexican Sage will be a large plant. Compare to this photo shortly after arrival.

Upright Coconut Geranium

Upright Coconut Geranium lifts its blooms high

Upright Coconut Geranium surprised me with its small 4-petaled light yellow flowers. I've never seen a yellow flower on a pelargonium! They are quite delicate and seem to last only one day. Upright Coconut is a recent arrival. Looking at the picture in the earlier post, I can see that the plant has bulked up a little.

Not a showy flower, but scientifically interesting

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

Pelargonium Ginger in Bloom

It's P. 'Ginger's turn to bloom

Ginger has charming lavendar blooms with rather fancy purple streaks. The streaks remind me of eyelashes. This plant is getting close to 2 feet tall.

Nursery Report

Fuzzy babies of Pelargonium 'Chocolate Mint' celebrate
spring with new growth and even some buds.

It has been 2 months since I started rooting some cuttings from my scented geranium plants. I started out with 12 starts each of Lime, Citrosa, Chocolate Mint, Dr. Livingstone, Brilliant, Ginger, and Nutmeg. I also had 4 volunteer seedlings of Coconut and took 8 cuttings from a Coconut runner.

So how are they doing?

Mostly - very well! I still have 12 babies each of Lime, Citrosa, Chocolate Mint, Dr. Livingstone, and Ginger. Also 11 Brilliant, 6 Coconut, and 3 Nutmeg.

Of the Coconut, the four seedlings are healthy and strong, but the cuttings from the runner never really seemed to get going. Only 2 remain. Nutmeg also was difficult. These cuttings took cold spells harder than the others. I expect that when I try to root some new cuttings in warmer temperatures, they will do fine.

Clorinda Closeup

This closeup of Pelargonium 'Clorinda' shows a purplish feathering on the top two petals. Very pretty!

Pelargonium Sandalwood Blooms

Pelargonium 'Sandalwood'

Sandalwood flies her flag: darling white flowers with pink dots and feathering. The plant itself is sturdy and upright with toothy, rippled leaves. Sandalwood has a woodsy scent.

Orange Geranium in Bloom

Pelargonium 'Orange'

What a charmer! Orange has a white flower with a purple spot on each of the top two petals. This scented geranium really does smell like oranges. A delightful little upright plant.

New Scented Geranium Arrivals

Pelargonium 'Pretty Polly' (Almond), P. 'Variegated Prince
Rupert' (Lemon) and P. 'Upright Coconut'

Yesterday three new scented geraniums arrived by UPS. This time I ordered from Papa Geno's Herbs in Nebraska. After purchasing through their web site, shipping plans were communicated the next day. The plants arrived in good condition. Papa Geno's packing method differs from Geraniaceae's technique considerably: The plants arrived in 2.5" x 3.5" pots that were enclosed in a cardboard carrier. This carrier is placed in the mailing box and held in place with tabs cut in the box so the foliage is not crushed by pots and rootballs flopping around. The plants from Papa Geno's were smaller than Geraneaceae, but are well-rooted and healthy.

My overall impression is that this is a professional outfit that is concerned about making their customers happy.