SHADE LOVING PELARGONIUMS

by Marilyn A. Holt of Holt Geraniums

Gone are the days when a 'geranium' is just thought to be the regular bedding type you buy at the garden centre or supermarket, the ones you see mass planted in huge beds. Today pelargoniums come in a wide variety of shape, colour and size, for planting in full sun or partial shade. There is a type suitable for whatever garden situation you may have.

The 'bedding geranium' is actually a zonal pelargonium - so called for the zone markings on the leaves. Zonal pelargoniums make up the largest section of the Geraniaceae family and encompass gold leaf, silver leaf, tri-colour, stellars, dwarfs and miniatures. These 'fancy leaf' plants are the ones I'd like to cover - and believe it or not they are available out there, you just have to search them out. Your best chance of getting these unusual varieties is to attend specialty garden club plant sales as they are not readily available at garden centers because they cannot be mass produced by seed - they require vegetative propagation, that is to say you need to take cuttings. There is an article entitled 'Hybrids' that will explain this in greater detail.

The normal bedding pelargoniums (the ones with green leaves) love the sun, however the ones in this article like protection from hot noonday sun and do best in either morning or afternoon sun - just think a pelargonium for partial shade! The types listed below are an asset to any area where you have light shade, the plants with their colourful leaves brighten up a shady area. You can plant these types either directly in the ground or in pots and tubs. In order to familiarize you with the choices available they've been split into types and a description given for each.

Gold Leaf Zonals - the leaves instead of being the normal green are a golden-green and on some varieties a yellow-green colour. In this group the zone markings are in different shades of brown, from dark to mahogany and some varieties do not have zone markings at all.

Silver Leaf Zonals - the leaves are a regular green colour but there are white or cream markings on the leaves. The white/cream shows up as edging in various widths and also as white veins or white/cream splashes and blotches. As with the gold leaf, not all silver leaf have zone markings but when they do, they come in a variety of colours.

Butterfly Leaf Zonals - the leaves have a blotch in the centre that resemble the open wings of a butterfly. This group comes in dark green with the butterfly shape in either yellow, gold or white but they also come in the reverse, where the leaves are gold/golden-green and the butterfly markings are in dark green.

Now we come to the most popular of these fancy leaf - the Tri-Colour Zonals. They get their name because there are three colours in each leaf - green, white/yellow and whatever colour the zone markings come out in - normally shades of pink, red, mahogany, rust or burnt sienna. This rainbow of colours make the leaves very attractive and eye-catching.

Stellar get their name from the flowers which are described as 'star like'. Stellar flowers have two upper petals that are usually narrower in width and longer in length than the lower three petals. The foliage on stellars are not rounded as with the zonal pelargoniums but rather shaped like an open hand with points to each section that resemble short fingers. Some stellars have zone markings and some do not. When the zones are present these vary in colour and width. Stellars are also available in gold leaf and very recent in tri-colours. These tri-colour stellars were hybridized by Ian Gillam of Vancouver, British Columbia and are a first- no one else in the world has produced a tri-colour plant that has lived for more than several months, but Ian has to his credit five tri-colour stellars. Also to his credit is the very popular stellar 'Vancouver Centennial' that is quickly sold out whenever it is offered for sale, here and abroad.

There are also non-zonal pelargoniums available in gold and silver. These include the ivy leaf and regals. Ivy leaf are the trailing plants you find in hanging baskets while regals are the ones also known as' Martha Washington geraniums'. Both these types are available in green or gold leaf, with or without variegation and on those with variegation the markings can be in white or gold.

The added bonus to all these varieties are that the single, semi-double or double flowers come in a wide range of colours - not just solid colours but two-toned, striped, dotted and streaked with another so your choice is unlimited. To make your choice even more difficult, all of these plants are available in dwarf and miniature sizes in addition to the regular sizes. The dwarf plants are between 5" to 8" in height and the miniature plants are 5" or less in height so as you see, a plant for every area of the garden, rockery or deck.

The main requirements of these beauties are that they don't like wet feet so be sure the soil or potting mix is well drained. They require bright light to flower but if you're wanting them just for their leaves, filtered sunlight is perfect. Rule of thumb - the less green in their leaves the less noonday sun they can tolerate.

Plan something different for your garden this spring - imagine a large urn filled with one variety of these beautiful eye-catching plants, what a sight it would be if that urn were strategically placed near your front door or outside your living room window where it would get the most attention from visitors. Happy planting!

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