Geranium Odorata Is Proof That Not All Geraniums Are Created Equal!
One of my all new favorite flowering plants this year is the geranium odorata, a truly lovely little perennial (in my zone) that also apparently has a slight fragrance! This particular plant, which here in Israel is called a "french geranium" has a slight orange fragrance. And I just realized that there is another geranium seen frequently around my neck of the woods whose leaves have a lemon fragrance, but the blooms while similar to these are quite small.These blooms, as you can see are quite lovely and unique, with a slight nod to the pansy!
I'll admit, once up a time I was a bit of a flower snob, and didn't quite favor geraniums, but now I say the more the merrier, and if one has access to many different kinds of geraniums, well then certainly there is no reason not to give them a try. For those of you who live in snowy regions of the world, geraniums can be easily over-wintered, and at the very least cuttings are taken from plants at the end of the season, rooted and re-planted after the last frost. For the rest of us, well, once you buy one geranium you just continue to make more plants from cuttings, assuming you take care of that first purchase and it thrives.
Like all geraniums, geranium odorata likes full or partial sun, can dry out a bit and be fine, and may even flower more in dryer conditions. It is favored in window sills around Europe and the Mediterranean because it is just so hardy and blooms non stop. As you may know there are geraniums to suit every location, though the most stunning use of geraniums that I have seen is the use of the trailing geraniums to create densely planted window boxes of trailing color. Yes, up close these window boxes are likely full of dried leaves underneath, but when viewed from afar, gorgeous!
interested in learning more about geraniums? Check out my previous posts regarding geraniums here:
- How To Grow Pillar Geraniums From Cuttings
- Window Sill Gardening With Geraniums…..lovely photos of geraniums in windowsills of historic homes in Safed, Israel
