Garden Alphabet: Geranium

Geranium

This pot of geraniums was given to us as a housewarming present 18 years ago and continues to bloom constantly at the end of of our porch. I have repotted it a number of times and love the fact that it has been with us this long. I find myself always shooting photos of it, too, as it always in our line of sight as we come and go from the house. It is simple, but also very, very, special.

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 Geranium is a genus of 422 species of flowering annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as the cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region. The long, palmately cleft leaves are broadly circular in form. The flowers have five petals and are coloured white, pink, purple or blue, often with distinctive veining. Geraniums will grow in any soil as long as it is not waterlogged. Propagation is by semiripe cuttings in summer, by seed, or by division in autumn or spring.

The genus name is derived from the Greek γέρανος (géranos) or γερανός (geranós) ‘crane’. The English name ‘cranesbill’ derives from the appearance of the fruit capsule of some of the species. Species in the Geranium genus have a distinctive mechanism for seed dispersal. This consists of a beak-like column which springs open when ripe and casts the seeds some distance. The fruit capsule consists of five cells, each containing one seed, joined to a column produced from the centre of the old flower. The common name ‘cranesbill’ comes from the shape of the unsprung column, which in some species is long and looks like the bill of a crane. However, many species in this genus do not have a long beak-like column. — Wikipedia

More information on Agave americana:

• Geranium on Wikipedia
• Outdoor-indoor geranium culture from the University of Minnesota
• Geranium from the National Gardening Association
• Geranium at Better Homes and Gardens