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spedigrees

Orange geraniums?

spedigrees z4VT
11 years ago

I was wondering if anyone on this forum has ever grown orange geraniums. I was thinking about trying to find some next summer as a substitute for the marigolds that I normally grow every year in my pot ghetto in my "orange garden."

This year I've been hit with a plague of Japanese beetles that have decimated my marigolds. :-( I notice that the beetles have not bothered my phlox, daylilies, black-eyed susans (both wild and cultivated) and/or my red geraniums in wine barrel planters at the front of my house. I was thinking that geraniums would probably thrive in planters in my orange garden and I did a search. I see that there are now orange varieties of geraniums which several nurseries sell, but are currently all sold out. Not a problem since I am looking at next year, not this year.

I'm wondering how popular these orange geraniums are and if this is a recent or new cultivar, and how likely would I be to find them next spring at my local garden store/nursery? If anyone has grown them, can you tell me if they are as hardy as the red varieties? Thanks in advance.

Comments (5)

  • moliep
    11 years ago

    Sped --- For a few years now I've grown Geranium 'Crystal Palace Gem' on my deck because of it combination of bright coral flowers and bi-colored leaves. The flowers are a bright orange that show well, especially against the dark/light green leaves. However, the flowers are not as prolific as typical geraniums --- so maybe that's not what you want for a distance splash of color. In any case, here are a few shots I took this morning of a single 'Crystal Palace Gem' plant growing in a tall pot. It gets about 20-30" tall.

    The leaves create a show all season long. I keep deadheading the blossoms stems. Oftentimes the plant will look just like this (mostly tones of green) before a new crop of flowers appear on the long stems.

    Up close and pretty true of the flower color

    Here's another view in more shade where the blossoms looks more orange/red

    The stems are long and thin so the flower "heads" are on the small side. But the color pops against the leaves.

    Molie

  • corunum z6 CT
    11 years ago

    Hi Sped, this one I have is not 100% orange, but a nice coral that might work. These are zonal pelargoniums and I know for sure when I went to the nearby nursery that grows 80000 'geraniums' every year, that I definitely saw orange this year. Not coral or salmon, but stop traffic orange. They're available, so next spring you should be in the orange bliss business. An aside - as I recall - ...pelargoniums were brought from South Africa by the British in the mid-1600s and they were Charles Dickens' favorite flower...in the best and worst of times, lol.

    Jane

  • spedigrees z4VT
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you very much Jane and Molie for the kind replies and photos. I truly love the foliage on the 'Crystal Palace Gem' and if Equinox Valley Nursery has any of these specimens in the spring, they'll be coming home with me! The two-tone green leaves are really lovely. The flowers look a bit on the red side of orange, but they may well work for me. I feel very encouraged by your report of so many different orange varieties of geranium at your local nursery, Jane. Your coral geraniums are a possibility too. I think a mix of varying shades of orange may create a pleasing effect.

    I've decided that next year I shall grow several pots of whatever orange geraniums I'm able to find, a few more pots of my usual marigolds (in hopes that the beetles might not be so hungry or numerous next year), and some orange gerbera daisies in the remaining pots. Time to diversify!

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    11 years ago

    Another possibility for orange annuals (actually a tender perennial), somewhat more in the yellow-orange like marigolds rather than the red-orange of geraniums, is California Poppy, Eschscholtzia californica. It has blue-green, somewhat ferny foliage and blooms a long time. In some areas it will reseed.

  • pixie_lou
    11 years ago

    I've been pretty happy with my cosmic orange cosmos this year. I winter sowed them. They were late to sprout but early to bloom.