Every fall I bring into the house three or four of my favorite geranium plants from the garden and pot them up (Pelargonium) and place them under grow lights. They delight me with beautiful flowers throughout the entire winter. Pelargonium, or commonly known as geraniums, are available in many different varieties and colors.
A favorite since Victorian times are the scented geraniums. Often, they have much smaller leaves and tiny flowers, but make up for it with delicious scents when the leaves are rubbed or slightly bruised. The glands that produce the oils producing the scent is located at the base of leaf hairs.
Frequently, they are grown along with herbs in the garden near a pathway, where people can touch and smell their perfume. Most grow them in pots, clay is best, and since they are not frost hardy, they need to be brought into the house during the winter months. In the garden they like full sun and be careful not to over water. Too much shade will make them leggy. Too rich of a soil will lessen the strength of their perfume. Go light on fertilizing. During the winter they can be brought in and placed in a sunny location and grown as a houseplant.
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Over 250 different varieties have been identified, and they are still counting. Often there is a debate among people on what the fragrance of the plants reminds them of. While most fragrances are sweet or fruity, one variety is said to smell like dead fish! In the last few years one scented geranium has been sold as a citronella plant. The plant and oils are felt by some to repel mosquitoes.
The oils from scented geraniums are used in making perfumes and the leaves are used in baking of cakes, muffins, cookies and jams.
Scented geraniums have a huge variety of wonderful scents. Fragrant scents include fruity smells such as apple, apple/mint, apricot, lemon, orange, grapefruit, coconut, pineapple, raspberry and strawberry. Others include spicy scents such as eucalyptus, balsam, myrrh, pine, nutmeg and cinnamon. The floral scents such as rose, lavender, and lemon balm are very popular.
Too many of the leaves may have a combination of fragrances. Two of my favorites are ‘Old Spice’ which people feel has the aroma of the popular men’s cologne. Another favorite is ‘Atomic Snowflake’ with beautifully variegated leaves and a lemony rose scent.
Bring back the warm, loving memories of the past and begin growing your own collection of scented geraniums!
Be sure to listen to my podcasts, ‘In the Garden with Rick,’ at https://anchor.fm/in-the-garden-with-rick/ In a future podcast we will be discussing scented geraniums in greater detail.
Image by İsmet Şahin