19. Geraniums (Pelargoniums)

Wherever you are located, you can be sure of an active de­mand for the geraniums (Pelargonium). You will sell bright-flowered singles and doubles as spring bedders, for foundation or patio plantings, for window boxes or planters. Zonals and Martha Wellingtons are specialties for Memorial Day, and the trailing ivies for poolside plantings and hanging baskets. The dwarf, cactus, fancy- and scented-leaved varieties are year-round sellers to collectors. The "unusual and fine-flowered" sorts (such a wide classification!) also appeal to collectors— both advanced and amateur. Since geraniums ship well, selling them to collectors alone can provide a year-round business if you wish to specialize.

Pelargonium Types

The species, seldom available from local florists or plant counters, are a first-rate specialty for collectors or hybridizers who want to cross species and hybrids. And where can you find these buyers? Join the International Geranium Society (address, page 257) and obtain leads on collectors from other Society members; or advertise in the Society's publication. Advertise in a national gardening magazine or run an ad in a local paper. You may find many collectors right in your own area who have previously had to "send away" for additions to their collections.

Tuberous-Rooted Pelargoniums

Tuberous-rooted pelargoniums are interesting but may have limited sales to only the more advanced collectors. However, if you intend to specialize, it will pay you to grow a few pots of them so as to have a well-rounded list to offer. These include some species with unusual coloring. Pelargonium gibbosum has nearly black-red flowers with chartreuse margins; P. fruta-ceum has petals spotted with yellow.

The Fragrant Ones

The scented-leaved sorts with odors suggestive of fruit, spice, or various perfumes appeal to everybody. Place a pot of the old favorite, rose-scented Pelargonium graveolens to the front of a counter, and as you talk with a customer invite him to press the leaves with his fingers to get a whiff of the delightful fra­grance. Very likely he will want to buy the plant. Other favorite scenteds include the lemon P. crispum, peppermint P. tomento-sium, coconut P. grossularioides, nutmeg P. fragrans, apple P. odoratissimum, and apricot P. Ninon. The pungence of pine is given off by the leaves of P. denticulatum.

Martha Washington Pelargoniums

Growers on the West Coast sell the pansy-flowered Martha Washingtons (Pelargonium domesticum) to home gardeners. Almost every yard flaunts these gorgeous beauties. In other sections, they are sold only as spring gift plants or as Decoration Day specials.

Because they are not so easily grown as their relatives, the zonals, you may find it wise to buy rooted cuttings and grow them on in a cool greenhouse. You can get assorted labeled varieties in red, pink, purple, and white for about $10.00 per hundred. Plant these directly into 3- or 4-inch pots. Water freely and keep at a temperature around 55 degrees.

Good sellers are Empress of Russia, Jungle Night, Carmine Queen, Misty Rose, Stardust, San Diego, Mrs. Mary Bard, Ballerina, Azalea, Mary Elizabeth, and Senorita.

Ivy-Leaved Geraniums

You will sell ivy or trailing geraniums to gardeners who want hanging-basket plants, trailers for patios, window boxes, plant­ers, urns, or poolside plantings. The ivy-leaved types do not thrive in extreme heat. Thus in areas other than California, they usually give sparse bloom in the outdoor garden. Still, their shiny green ivylike foliage makes them garden favorites. Some of the sturdiest are Colonel Baden-Powell, lilac-white; Galilee, pink; Gordon's Glory, scarlet; and Willy, deep red.

Slender-stemmed varieties, ideal for baskets, include the rose-pink Mrs. H. J. Jones, silvery pink, The Blush, and white-and-rose Enchantress.

Rapid growing trailers, perfect to drape walls, are the pink Galilee, light purple Diener's Lavender, and scarlet Intensity.

Zonal Geraniums

The zonal geranium is perhaps the most popular plant for Memorial Day sales, but it goes well at any time. The following are good sellers:

DOUBLE ZONALS

WHITE              SALMON PINK
Gregersen's White      Picardy
Snowball                   Pink Fiat
Springfield White   Mme. Landry
White Madonna     Salmon Ideal
Mme. Buchner
BRIGHT RED
PINK                         Louise
Apple Blossom      Olympic Red
California Beauty       Red Fiat
Enchantress              Sensation
Enchantress Fiat
Mrs. Lawrence            RED
(and its improved varieties)       Lady Jane
Pink Giant                Montmort
Sunset Pink         Pride of Camden

SINGLE ZONALS

WHITE                   Emile Zola
Helen Van Pelt Wilson Mrs. Hawley
(white shaded lilac to pink)
New Phlox LAVENDER TO PURPLE
(red center)
Snowdrop              Bougainvillea
(purple)
PINK                                            Edee
Barbara Hope          (lavender)
ORANGE AND BRIGHT       Tango
RED                         (orange)
Flame
(bright red)
La Fiesta               DARK RED
(orange)                     Velma

Fancy-Leaved Geraniums

The fancy-leaved geraniums are prized by collectors and find favor, too, with the gardener who wants a "different" pot or bedding plant. Although the leaf colors are varied, they do not clash when planted together. Grow them in strong sun­shine to bring out their full beauty.

One profit-gardener makes a specialty of these. She grows masses of them outside on a sunny slope and sells cuttings di­rectly from the bed.

Popular among the fancy types are Happy Thought, Marshall MacMahon, Bronze Beauty, Skies of Italy, and Mrs. Pollock. Beckwith Pride, Hills of Snow, and Attraction are among the silver- and green-leaved; Gold Leaf, Verona, Cloth of Gold, and tiny Dwarf Gold Leaf have gold leaves.

Unusual and Fine-Flowering Types

These fascinating varieties have sales appeal for the collector as well as those who want unusual house or garden plants. In this group are the Bird's Egg pelargoniums with the lower petals of the flower touched and splashed with darker color. There are few of these listed by dealers. If you can secure plants to propagate, you will be assured of a stock item with exceptional sales value.

Less rare but popular is the notched-petal group listed as Jeanne, Carnation, or Sweet William. These flowers have "pinked" petals—like a carnation.

The Rosebud geraniums have very double flowers like tiny partially opened rosebuds. Favorite varieties are Apple Blos­som, Magenta, and Scarlet Rosebud, whose flowers open wider than the others.

Then there is the Poinsettia group with narrow, uneven petals of varying size. Red Poinsettia has short petals of lavender pink. The pure white one, Noel, may be listed under Cactus-flowered.

Another group is called Phlox because its eyed-florets re­semble the garden phlox. Both Phlox and its variety, New Phlox, are popular.

Hints on Culture

The geranium (Pelargonium) grows in any ordinary soil, provided it is not deficient in potash, and in a minimum tem­perature of 55 to 60 degrees with full sunlight. Contrary to popular belief, plants require constant watering. Keeping them on the dry side delays flowering. Good growth and heavy flow­ering depend on steady fertilizing. Give weekly doses of half strength fertilizer as the buds form.

Pythium, commonly called black leg disease, is a form of rot. To prevent it, sterilize the soil before planting and spray with 2-2-50 Bordeaux to keep older plants free of this infection. One commercial geranium saved an entire collection by re­peated dosages of the tar derivative, Carco-X. Another effective fungicide is Orthocide.

Propagation

Propagate geraniums by seed or cuttings. Sow the seeds in a loose soil, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Cover lightly with soil and set in a warm greenhouse. As the seedlings grow, prick them off into 2- and finally 4-inch pots. Seeds sown in August produce spring-flowering plants.

Geraniums respond well to hand pollination; the slender seed pods ripen in about 6 weeks. Do not depend on these homemade hybrids for your first salable crop, however. Seeds sold by specialists are gathered from selected varieties and will give you just the type of plant you want to sell.

Cuttings strike root easily when taken in September. Insert them in a flat of moist vermiculite, spacing them so that leaves do not touch. They will be ready for sale within 4 months. These plants need not be shifted from small to large pots; in­stead pot them directly into 2- and 3-inchers.

PROFIT FROM GERANIUMS
Big commercial growers all over the country count geraniums among their top money-makers, and the number of semi-ama­teurs who have found geraniums profitable is legion. The ac­counts that follow are typical of countless success stories.

When only thirteen years old, Elvin McDonald, then of Gray, Oklahoma, built a 6- by 9-foot lean-to at a cost of less than one hundred dollars, and it became a money-maker the first year. Young McDonald started cuttings and seedlings of rare geraniums—cactus, scented, and fancy-leaved types—in flats in his home, and as soon as the greenhouse was completed moved them in. Within two months the cuttings were ready for sale.

From one $30.00 ad in a horticultural magazine, he received more than $500.00 worth of orders—all in less than 2 weeks.

With this money to purchase additional stock, he began growing more than seventy-five varieties of geraniums, mostly fancy-leaved and scented, since they had proved to be the best sellers. Because the glass of his little greenhouse extended al­most to the ground, plants thrived under the benches, affording valuable topside space for rooting cuttings.

In South Bend, Indiana, Mrs. Mabel Welborn makes a dandy profit from geraniums. She started with a little 7- by 12-foot lean-to built on the south side of an unused henhouse; now she grows in a new 14- by 20-foot greenhouse, built for $250.00. One year she advertised in the local paper for Memo­rial Day, but found that many of her plants were too large and expensive for this holiday trade. Since then she tops taller plants in January, and propagates the cuttings, and sells bushy topped plants to the early spring trade. She prefers a seasonal trade, running ads for Easter, Memorial Day, and Christmas. The rest of the year she runs her house as a hobby, building up her stock of fancy-leaved geraniums. One of her favorites—and well liked by her customers—is Appleblossom Rosebud.

Geranium Society

If you are concerned with geraniums, do join the Interna­tional Geranium Society, 3632 Vinton Street, Los Angeles 34, California. It publishes an excellent booklet full of helpful information.

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