NATIVE GERANIUM

The Austral Stork's Bill (Pelargonium australe) is an Australian native flower, similar to stork's bills in other parts of the world. The plants produce clusters of asymmetrical, light pink to white flowers, often with darker reddish-purple markings on the upper petals.  The leaves are generally soft, velvety, and rounded with toothed edges. It is popular in gardens for its hardiness, salt tolerance, and long flowering periods.

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GERANIUM 'ROZANNE'

Geranium 'Rozanne' Pbr (Geranium wallichianum x himalayense 'Rozanne' PBR) is an extremely popular cultivar with bright violet-blue flowers, each with a white central eye. Delicate red veins radiate outward into each petal. Come early spring, beautiful lobed foliage emerges, forming a neat low mound. Flowers are soon produced and will extend throughout autumn after a light trim in summer. A perfect choice for planting with roses.

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MAGENTA STORKSBILL

Pelargonium rodneyanum, commonly known as magenta storksbill, is a perennial herb species that is endemic to Australia. It grows to 40 cm high and has leaves with 5 to 7 shallow lobes. Dark pink flowers appear between October and February in the species native range.

The species was first formally described in 1838 by English botanist John Lindley in the second volume of Thomas Mitchell's "Three Expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia." It occurs on rocky slopes in forested areas of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

In cultivation, the species prefers a sunny position with good drainage. It tolerates a variety of soil conditions as well as periods of dryness and frost. It is suited to rockeries and can be grown in containers.

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PELARGONIUM 'SPLENDIDE'

Pelargonium violareum, Geranium violareum or Pelargonium 'Splendide' are all synonyms for this unusual hybrid identifed as Pelargonium x violareum in the Geraniaceae family. It is an upright, shrubby perennial with soft smooth stems bearing grey-green leaves with serrated edges and pansy-like flowers with bold carmine upper petals and paler pink lower petals in summer.

The plants will reach a height of 0.5 m and a spread of 0.5m after 1-2 years. They do well in City, Coastal, Cottage/Informal, Drought Tolerant, Beds and Borders, and in Containers. They grow well in compost mixed with sharp sand in a sunny position. They should deadheaded frequently to encourage further flowering.

Pelargoniums will not survive a severe Winter outdoors, so will need to be overwintered indoors or be replaced with new plants. In cases where the Winter is milder, the plant survives but may lose its leaves. Pruning will encourage new growth in Spring. Use a high potash fertiliser in Summer.

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SUMMER FLOWERS

A beautiful Summer's evening in our garden today, and a pleasure to walk amongst the fragrant, colourful flowers.

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Pelargonium

Dragon Wing Begonia

Tuberose

Carnation

Climbing rose

Zinnia

Four'o'clocks

Rhapsody in Blue rose

Alstroemeria

CORAL 'GERANIUM'

We know them simply as 'geraniums'. They are one of the most popular container plants, yet they are not really geraniums at all. Botanically they are Pelargonium. There are true geraniums, the perennial cranesbills, but they look little like the annual plants we commonly call 'geraniums'.

The confusion with the names can be traced back to disagreements between botanists over classification and is of little importance to most gardeners, except for the distinction that perennial cranesbill geraniums will come back each year and zonal geraniums, those now classified as Pelargonium, are topical perennials usually grown as annuals in colder climates. They got the prefix "zonal" because of the markings on their leaves. Zonal geraniums were discovered in South Africa and if you have a similar, subtropical climate, you can grow them as perennials.

This coral pink zonal geranium is Pelargonium x hortorum.  Zonal geraniums are bushy plants, mainly used for containers and bedding. There has been considerable breeding done, particularly for size and abundance and colours of flowers, so there is a good deal of variety. Zonal geraniums start blooming in mid-spring and will repeat bloom until frost. Deadheading the entire flower stalk after the flower fades will encourage more blooms.

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WINDOW BOX

Now that we are seeing more and more apartments in Melbourne, the large front and back gardens of individual houses of the past are getting less common. The poor geranium is a very undemanding plant and does well with minimum care in window boxes and pots - even in an apartment balcony or window ledge!

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