You're half-way through it, and you probably never knew it, but 1998 is The Year of the Geranium. While this may not exactly bring a spring to your step, it has the National Garden Bureau quite excited. They do this every year -- last year was The Year of the Potato, and it simply didn't fly. But this year is working out better since geraniums are easy to grow and a colorful addition to your garden, or in pots indoors or on your lanai. It's not too late to observe
The year of
the geraniumThe National Garden Bureau
honors the colorful bloomProbably only another geranium would know, but most of what we call geraniums are actually pelargoniums. These are a less hardy and more glamorous form of the geranium that will grow in chilly mainland climates.
It looks like a geranium
Geraniums, which are native to the northern hemisphere, have symmetrical flowers usually growing in clusters and they tend to get weedy. Pelargoniums are native to South Africa and their flowers look to most people about the same as a geranium, but the National Garden Bureau says that the shape of the flower is different. Most garden shops use the terms interchangeably, so we'll call them all geraniums.There is also a native geranium, noho-anu, growing on the highest mountains of Maui, Hawaii and Kauai. These grow to about 12 feet at those altitudes and won't grow at all at sea level.
While geraniums were being cultivated in South Africa and in Europe, the first seeds didn't arrive in America until 1760, and more were brought back from France in 1770 by Thomas Jefferson for his gardens in Virginia.
It has only been in the past 35 years that geraniums have been commercially hybridized. The difficulty was in getting plants to produce seeds and then getting the seeds to germinate. Then Richard Craig of Pennsylvania State University discovered how to improve the germination rate from six moths to two weeks by nicking the seed coats to allow water and oxygen in.
He could then breed for specific traits, such as flower color, compact growth and disease resistance. He named his first commercially successful seed-propagated geranium the Nittany Lion Red for the university mascot. Fortunately red was the school color because that was the flower color. Pink geraniums might have been a problem.
At local garden shops you can buy either geranium seeds or growing plants cultivated from cuttings. The seed packages give instructions, and you usually get a more spectacular color spectrum from seeds than from cuttings. But you'll get more and bigger flowers and sometimes scented leaves from cuttings.
When buying plants at a nursery or garden shop, look for healthy dark green leaves with no discolored spots above or underneath, and compact growth. Pass up the straggly stemmed plants which indicates that they were grown in poor light, and look out for bugs.
Hold off on planting
The National Garden Bureau suggests that you don't immediately plant your young potted geraniums in the ground without first getting them used to the cruel world of the great outdoors. The drying sun and wind will damage young plants that haven't first been hardened. Put the pots outside in a protected area for a few hours every day for about a week, and hold off fertilizing them during this period. That should toughen them up.Geraniums need full sun to grow and flower well. That is defined as six or more hours of direct sun daily. The best time to transplant them from pots into your garden is on a cloudy day or in the late afternoon so they don't have to contend immediately with the full sun. They grow best in fairly rich soil with good drainage. Loosen the soil, work in a one-inch layer of compost and one pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer for a 10 by 10 foot plot.
Set the geraniums into the ground at the same depth or just slightly below the level they were growing when potted. Try to keep as much of the soil around the roots as possible so they don't dry out. Space the plants 8 to 12 inches apart so they have good air circulation, but are close enough to provide a compact planting for maximum color effect.
Use either a time-release fertilizer according to the instructions on the package, or a balanced water-soluble fertilizer (10-10-10 or 20-20-20) about once a month. Geraniums are relatively pest-free, but if you find fungus or insect damage on the leaves, simply pull those leaves off. Remove faded flowers regularly to encourage new blooms.
Geraniums grow well in containers as long as they are left in full sun. Be sure the container has good drainage, and use a light soilless mix, keeping the plant somewhat potbound. If the pot is outside, don't use a saucer under it so that the water will fully drain through. Inside, make sure there is no standing water in the saucer, which causes root rot.
The University of California Extension Service offers this advice on prolonging the life of cut flowers. Use one part lemon-lime soda (don't use a diet drink because you want the sugar) to three parts water. To each quart of the mixture, add 1/4 teaspoon of household bleach. The sugar in the soda provides nourishment to help the buds open, the acid in the beverage helps liquids move through the stems. The bleach prevents bacterial and fungal growth which clog flower stems and shorten vase life. People using this method say that it works better than the commercial flower preservatives.
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
Send queries along with name and phone number to:
Evergreen by Lois Taylor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com.
Please be sure to include a phone number.
Evergreen by Lois Taylor is a regular Friday feature of the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. © 1998 All rights reserved.
