Geranium Blog

Upright Coconut Geranium

Upright Coconut is a charming little jewel. So much to love: the zoned leaves, the tiny butter yellow flowers that always point down, the ridiculously large cranesbills. It starts readily from seed and thank goodness, because it doesn't seem to live for very long. Think of it as a biennial.

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...

Seed Starting for Pelargoniums

Pelargonium grossularioides seeds (L) and P. elongatum seeds (R)

I ran across an interesting article - Raising Pelargoniums from Seed by the Sprouting method. It reminded me of Jeanne's seed starting method that she describes in her blog Uncle Tom's Garden.

I have seeds aplenty of Pelargonium grossularioides (Coconut) and they start easily. You could almost call them invasive! But I was nervous about how to grow the P. elongatum (Upright Coconut) seeds because I have far fewer for experimentation. So the damp paper towel method it will be!

Seed Patrol Update

Pelargonium 'Sandalwood' with flowers and seedheads

While deadheading this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few seedheads on P. 'Sandalwood'. This is not a species pelargonium, as far as I know, so it will be interesting to see what develops. Sandalwood is a woodsy scented geranium.

In other seed news, I learned that Upright Coconut Geranium is a species pelargonium: P. elongatum.

Seeds of Upright Coconut Geranium

Seeds of Pelargonium 'Upright Coconut'

Upright Coconut Geranium has simply enormous seeds! The seedheads are about 5 times bigger than those of regular Coconut geranium, seen here. I don't know if these seeds will reproduce true, but curiosity demands that I find out! Below is a picture of how they hang on the plant. They look sort of comical, so big on a still small plant!

P. 'Upright Coconut' with seedheads

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'

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