Even non-gardeners know what a pelargonium (also known as geranium) is. Love them or hate them, there’s no escaping them, from the Royal Parks to your windowsill, where 12,000 bright red pelargoniums are planted outside Buckingham Palace every summer.
Pelargoniums are versatile, easy to grow and reliable plants.
Personally, I have a special soft spot for the classic rose-scented pelargonium (P. graveolens) as I have maintained cuttings from plants that have been passed down for five generations.
Another pelargonium fanatic is Colin Stewart, head gardener at The Exchange, a community-owned arts and crafts space in Erith that has a growing collection of its own. Like me, he thinks pelargoniums are on the rise at the moment: “I don’t know if it’s cottagecore or maximalism, but they’re definitely in season right now,” he says.
New leaves: We hope that the Exchange Greenhouse will function as a pelargonium “library”
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The Exchange’s pelargoniums are grown in a beautiful conservatory designed, along with the gardens, by Sara Price: “It is built to the exact dimensions of the first mobile bookmobile, commissioned by Florence Barton Young in the 1930s when The Exchange was a public library,” explains Stewart.
“When I started working at the Exchange, the greenhouse was empty. It had no heating and got cold in the winter. We were looking for plants that could withstand extreme temperatures and didn’t need to be watered every day in the summer.”
These hardy plants can be grown from cuttings.
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Pelargoniums are the answer, and also a living metaphor for the books in the mobile library: “There’s a sense of nostalgia to the pelargonium collection; they’re labelled like a collection, unlike the rest of the garden,” says Stuart.
The plants also lend themselves to a spirit of exchange: “Pelargoniums are very easy to propagate,” he adds. “We’d like the greenhouse to become a library of sorts, where people can share and exchange the pelargonium cuttings that they have on the shelves.”
Stewart’s favorite pelargoniums are:
Pelargonium “Mr. Wren”
“I love the classic crimson zonal pelargonium. Last year I planted a box full of them in a windowsill and thought the effect (especially combined with the wipe-clean red-and-white gingham tablecloth on the window-side dining table) was so fresh and chic with a timeless holiday feel.
“Mr Wren’ is a Victorian variety that has red flowers with white borders on the petals, which makes it very striking.”
Geraniums are also available in vibrant red varieties.
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Pelargonium ‘Shurcouf’
“Another variety popular in the 19th century, this one has stubby, drooping vine leaves that make it perfect for pots. The bold flowers are a very juicy, vibrant cherry colour – stunning.”
“This seems like a typical ‘starter’ variety, given the species type. It has elegant, wavy grey leaves on long, slender stems and even more elegant, deep purple flowers.”
“It seems to be quite hardy and overwintered in our front garden in Peckham last year with no problems. I’m going to try it on a west-facing sandy soil at the Exchange and see how it goes.”
The Exchange’s geraniums are grown in designer greenhouses
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“It’s a vigorous, bushy-leaved, minty-scented plant with delicate white flowers. Unusually, it does well in the shade. It seems to be hardy in London, and I recently planted it in a tricky, dry, dark spot. So far so good.”
