I live in Sussex, close to the coast, and the house has a south facing wall, painted white. A couple of years ago I bought six large bright, deep red geraniums (or pelargoniums) which I planted into two large white flower pots and stood these against the wall. On a sunny day the effect was beautiful. Since then, I haven't been able to find any geraniums as good as those were and I never made a note of the variety nor did I take any cuttings.
I'd like to grow my own from seed if, that is, I can find seeds that will give me those deep bright red flowers. Can anyone advise me which might be the best variety to look for and, if possible, where I might buy the seeds from? The images on the Internet and those on the seed packets don't always give a true idea of the colour.
I learned years ago to seek out and BUY the already started plants when I wanted a certain color. The catalogs don't always show the true color of what grows from the seed they sell. It's hard to reproduce the true colors of some flowers on paper.
I also learned to take cutting of those special plants. ;^) I have a few of them with me for years now.
How do you get them to weather the cold winters? I stumbled onto some beautiful varieties this year and would really like to have them around for a while, but I thought geraniums were annuals.
I've found several articles on how to start cuttings from established plants, but nothing as to keeping them through the winter.
That's what I've decided to do - and should have done many years ago!
The reason for the question was exactly as you said that the pictures shown in the catalogues don't really show the true colours and, I suppose, can't. I bought some pelargonium plants this spring and, when they bloomed, they were a much paler red than I wanted so decided to look into seeds.
Anyway, a bit of good news for me is that I went down the garden yesterday (in between the bouts of extremely heavy rain that we in the South of England have learned to call summer this year!) and there, blooming, in a large flower-pot, was exactly what I was looking for! My wife apparently took cuttings from a plant she got from somewhere and it been there for a couple of winters now! I must learn to open my eyes!
I also went out and bought two large plants from which I will take cuttings, later on. So, I have more than enough material to work with now!
As far as I understand it, geraniums (or pelargoniums) are only annual in Britain because of the winter. I used to follow the books and keep the cuttings in the right place and temperature, which wasn't always successful as the only place I had was the dining-room and it could still get cold in there at night, even with the central heating on.
But that was over twenty years ago now and, though we still live in the same house, the winter weather, along the coast, here in Sussex has changed dramatically so I leave them out all year round now - in pots and in the garden. I've even got the fancy, more delicate pelargoniums (I don't know their name, I'm afraid) growing there
We used to get deep snow (I've known the time when I had to leave my car and walk to work because of the snow and pour boiling water over sections of outdoor pipes to get the drain water flowing again - but not any longer!) and the ice on my ponds would freeze several inches thick and remain frozen for days, even weeks. They still freeze, cardboard thin now, and may last a day or two but not for very long.
The weather is such, now, that outside (against a south facing wall, I grant you) I have two 8ft tall orange trees (grown from the pips of oranges I picked up in a street in Spain), three lime bushes (about 3 ft tall that came from limes I bought at a market in India and which have flowers and very small limes growing) and a lemon tree that came from Italian lemons. I also have outside a small olive bush (still growing and with small olives)
I have oleanders and yuccas that come from cuttings that I took while on holiday about 15 years ago (mainly Italy and Greece) and I had, originally, to keep these indoors or under covers but don't now.
On the subject of geraniums, however, I one in a hanging basket, down the bottom of our garden, that flowered all over Christmas and is still flowering now. The heavy rain caused it to look very sad for a while but it's now picked up.
Having said all the above, we may get the worst winter ever this year and I shall lose the lot!
Anyway, GYG, it's nothing I do - it's just that the weather can be so warm, here, in winter and that suits me fine - though, on the odd occasion, I rather fancy a walk in the snow - then I come to my senses!
Out in California, they are so hardy that I used to grow them as a hedge. My dogs would burrow into the middle of it to hide out from the heat in the middle of the day.
They are so easy to propagate from cuttings that I've never heard of them being planted from seeds.
Thamks for your email. I must admit, I didn't know they could be sown from seed either until I was told, though, when you think about it, it's obvious, really!!
How tall di they grow in California, then? Do they really make a hedge? They seem far too "brittle" (if that's the right word but I'm sure you'll see wgat I mean!)
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