A Few Thoughts on Pelargoniums

I heartily recommend you get yourself some Pelargoniums.

Now. Tsk. Tsk. I know what you were thinking as you looked at this photo of my Pelargoniums.

You were thinking that I’m growing so many Pelargoniums because I’m getting older. And old people naturally migrate over to Pelargoniums.

Not so! Don’t think of Pelargoniums as your grandma’s old-fashioned flowers any longer. (Though Grandma surely called them Geraniums.)

Think of them as an exciting addition to the popular (and growing in popularity) grandma-core aesthetic. Because haven’t you heard and read that everything old, or once considered old-fashioned, is now in fashion?

And Pelargoniums are quite collectible. You can seek out those with interesting leaf colors. Or fancy flowers. Or beautiful scents.

Or go all out and get some of each kind.

Then buy some stacking metal plant stands from Aldi (Oops! The ones I have were an Aldi Find from the spring, so you’ll have to buy some from someplace else or make wooden ones)and set them up on your back patio to display your Pelargoniums theater-style, like I did.

You know what else is great about Pelargoniums? They like to be fussed over. There’s always a little bloom to cut off, or a dead leaf to whisk away. It’s good for whatever ails you or stresses you out to spend quiet time fiddling around with your Pelargoniums to clean them up a bit.

Here’s my little theater after I cleaned everyone up a bit, as compared to the first picture which was pre-clean up.

Allow me to give you a special tour of a few that caught my eye while I did so.

I really like the flowers on this one, and I’m not a big lover of red flowers.

On the next row down…

This would have been just a plain ol’ green Pelargonium but when I saw that bloom, I knew it was coming home with me.

Or if you prefer…

I ordered this one from a catalog picture. It’s redder than the one above which is pinker in real life.

In real-life, I do find a few weed seedlings in the pots with the Pelargoniums. I mostly weed them out except when they are viola seedlings.

In my garden, all plants are required to get along with viola seedlings. They must allow viola seedlings to germinate, flourish, and bloom wherever they like. I established this rule long ago and every year, I feel wiser and wiser for having put such a rule in place.

There is one other seedling nestled in amongst the Pelargoniums.

Yes, I grew a pelargonium from seeds I collected last fall. Just one. I have no idea how it will turn out. My goal is to keep it alive so it can grow big enough to overwinter successfuly in the sunroom or garage this winter and then maybe it will flower next summer.

Speaking of overwintering… and not to be thinking about it too soon because it is still just July… I did successfully overwinter about three of six Pelargoniums that I had last year. I hope, obviously, to do much better this next winter. I’m shooting for one hundred percent overwintering success! This will probably involve setting the theater up in my garage this fall, which stays above freezing, and making sure the plants don’t dry out completely. Who knows? Maybe I’ll set up a little grow light for them. We’ll see.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on Pelargoniums today, which I will sum up with a few words to you to grow them too (assuming you aren’t growing them, for some crazy reason): grandma-core, collectible, fun-to-grow, and kind of pretty too.

Thanks for indulging me!