Category — Organic Flowers

I love coming home to cheery flowers on my patio or front step. Geraniums are great easy perennial plants for patio gardening. When I say geraniums are great for a patio garden, I don’t mean actual Geraniums, although they might be nice as well, I mean pelergoniums. What’s the difference?

photo credit: Mommy of Five

Here’s an actual geranium. It’s a member of the genus Geranium, sometimes also called “cranesbill.” Geraniums are a great plant for the front of a perennial border, but they aren’t what most people think of when one says “geranium.”

photo credit: TANAKA Juuyoh (????)

Here’s what most people think of as geraniums. This plant is a member of the genus “Pelargonium.” It is a great plant to grow in pots on a sunny patio because it tolerates hot, dry conditions well. Pelargoniums also bloom over a long period, brightening up your patio all summer.

The common pelargoniums found at your local nursery will most likely come in bright colors such as hot pink, orange, or fire engine red. If very brightly colored flowers aren’t your style, you might consider planting “scented geraniums” on your patio instead. Scent geraniums are pelargoniums bred so that their leaves give off familiar scents. My favorite is “rose geranium” which has a wonderful scent of roses, soft fuzzy leaves, and lovely light pink flowers. Scented geraniums can actually be used as an herb to a their scent to sugar or baked goods. Once you discover how easy to grow and beautiful pelargoniums are you might even start collecting different varieties for your patio garden.

photo credit: shimgray

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For the moment, GardenGrrrl is an itinerant. This summer I’m living with some friends in a shared house. In September I will be moving to a new city to begin a new graduate school program. Lately it’s been one move after another with little time to establish a garden. In the meantime I have still be assisting friends in getting their gardens started. I will be posting more on various gardens that I have coached clients through.

For now, here’s a picture of some Lantana in the front yard of my summer home. Mostly the garden here is a mess, but despite the neglect the Lantana is doing beautifully. Gardening snobs might not be fans of Lantana because it is so ubiquitous in this part of the country, but it’s the kind of plant that can make anyone feel like a successful gardener. It’s a great groundcover or perennial for places you don’t want to spend that much time on. Lantana does well in summer or part shade and tolerates forgetful watering. In some parts of the country it can become invasive, but I have never seen it cause a problem here in California.

Since I’m only here for another six or eight weeks I have a limited amount of time to get the garden here straightened out. Luckily my roommates have both expressed an interested in learning more gardening, so expect to see more posts in the coming weeks as I attempt to get them started.

Technorati Tags: easy, gardening, gardens, lantana, low maintenance, Organic Flowers