The Imperfect Gardener

by Adina Sara

The Joy of Geraniums

Where I grew up in suburban Southern California, every house on the block shared a common landscape theme, perfectly square lawns framed by unremarkable rectangular shrubs, with regulation red geraniums peering out at predictable intervals. And so I came to think of geraniums as boring, the cliché of gardens, and vowed never to grow them.

That was before I learned that geraniums come in all kinds of sizes, shapes, textures and colors, not to mention exquisite smells.

Over the years I've become acquainted with several varieties, and in the right spot, they have become the most trusted and versatile additions to my garden. If you are looking for scented varieties, there are a lot to choose from lemon, apple, lime, nutmeg, peppermint, even chocolate mint. My favorite is the ginger geranium. The leaves are velvet to the touch and provide a delicate dimension to the landscape. And yes, when you crinkle the leaves, you get a sweet, pungent whiff of ginger. The flowers of the scented geraniums are mostly violet to white, not as spectacular as some of the brilliant red varieties, but it's a fair trade-off. The attar of roses is the strongest of the scented varieties, though it has a tendency to grow wild and clumpy and interfere with its neighbors. I cut it back mercilessly at the end of winter, and it comes right back. For aromatherapy in your garden, the rose geranium is hard to beat.

The variegated geraniums offer interesting leaf colorations deep greens framed in white, tricolor shades of green to reddish brown. They make beautiful centerpieces because of their foliage alone, and that's not including the violet, salmon, or soft pink blooms.

The only thing that geraniums don't seem to like is frost. Gardening books will tell you that they bloom continuously from spring through autumn, but in our lucky Laurel climate, it is possible to enjoy the multicolored blooms year 'round. When everything else is dull or dead, there is nothing quite like a large splash of brilliant red to wake up the landscape.

And now for the best part. The only tool you need to propagate geraniums is an opposable thumb. One clean snap, directly above the line where two leaves form, and you have the easy makings of a new plant. Remove the next row of double leaves along with any blooms, leaving a shoot that is about three to five inches long. Set the cutting directly into any hospitable soil, something soft enough to poke a finger through with no effort. Add water, of course. No Rootone or Vitamin B necessary. The plant just seems to know what to do next.

Geraniums are excellent in pots, where they can be moved into the sunniest winter spot for continuous blooms. If you set a new shoot directly into the garden, remember that it thrives on neglect and will get a whole lot bigger with no effort on your part.

With the holidays coming, geraniums can offer a great alternative to poinsettias. (Are you tired of them too?) An easy, economical gift, snap off a small geranium shoot, put it in a decorative pot, and it should take root in time for the holidays.

Check out www.laeom.com/geraniumphotographs.htm for a great selection of photographs to whet your appetite.

Gardener's Exchange

Rose and ginger geranium cuttings are available, along with red, apricot, and variegated leaf varieties, for interested Metro gardeners. E-mail imperfectgardens\@attbi.com, and ask for a cutting. Yours for a snap!