Name That Perennial

[akirlu]

Well, I presume it's a perennial. It didn't die back from last year to this. Anybody know what this stuff is? Starts blooming in June and (if memory serves) goes all summer. Seems pretty happy with minimal care. I like it and all, I'd just like to know what it is.

Comments

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

It's a geranium, and a very handsome one, not to be confused with pelargoniums, the related species with bright red flowers sold at Fred Meyer and other places.

They take no care at all. They're prone to rust and can be hard to wipe out if you decide that you don't want them where they're growing. Hummingbirds like them; that purple veining on the petals points to dinner.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I know from pelars (though I often persist in calling them geraniums, since that's what the stores always call them), but hadn't fully twigged to the notion that there are things that actually are geraniums but not pelargoniums. Why on earth do the stores in the US insist that pelargoniums are geraniums, if they're not? I iz confuzzled.

So bloody much to learn.

[shikzoid.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is why geranium sap smells like WD-40.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Speaking of scent, have you smelled the sap of the regal/Martha Washington pelargoniums? It's fabulously spicy. Something like a wonderful cross between carnation and cinnamon, only not really like either one.

[shikzoid.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, to me it smells like citronella - not at all pleasant. The chocolate mint geranium smells kinda weird and not at all like chocolate or mint. Not that my olfactory nerve is all that accurate these days.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Definitely a geranium, and very handsome. Is it scented at all?

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's scented. I'll have to stick my nose in when I get home, but it certainly hasn't made itself evident from just walking past it. And in all humility (since I didn't plant it, and have done essentially nothing to maintain it), it is a handsome specimen. Rivals the rose bush next to it for size.

[maryread.livejournal.com]

Geraniums, also called cranesbill, a hardy perennial; not to be confused with the scarlet annual pelargoniums. (What she said!) Paler pink geraniums are woodland native in our neck of the woods. The leaf-shape is distinctive. Also come in blue and white varieties. Looks like you've got a fancy cultivar.

Maybe it's one of those European name confusions, that English names don't map neatly onto the natives here. You know our robins are big honking monsters compared to the British ones.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, hah. Yes, I have the wild geraniums all over the back yard -- little tiny pink flowers, and a really shallow root ball. As for European confusions, could be. Though in Swedish, the term for pelargoniums is "pelargon(er)".

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

And as you know from my site, not all pelargoner are red and boring either!