XIX 



ON GERANIUMS 



IN my remarks on the shrubby Calceolaria I referred to 

 the abuse of the plant in years gone by, when it was used 

 as one of the three items to form " ribbon borders," and 

 also in bedding. It is scarcely necessary to remind 

 readers of an older gardening generation than the pre- 

 sent that one of the other components of the " ribbon 

 border " was the scarlet Zonal Geranium, and that it was 

 the most important of the triumvirate which nearly 

 drove lovers of artistic gardening to distraction. 



In those days the true Geranium was a wholly 

 unimportant plant. One or two of the native species 

 were admired by lovers of wild flowers, notably the 

 Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianuiri), with its hairy 

 red stems and pretty pink flowers ; but the majority 

 were hardly thought to be worthy of notice. Things 

 have changed so much that the Geranium has now 

 receded into the eminently respectable position of chief 

 ornament of the villas of retired grocers, while the hardy 

 species have been admitted to the borders of advanced 

 flower-lovers. 



The Geraniums and Pelargoniums both belong to the 

 natural order Geraniacea, and the confusion of names is 

 not altogether surprising. The name Geranium (Crane's- 

 bill) comes from geranos, a crane, in allusion to the beak- 

 like projection on the seeds ; while that of Pelargonium 



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