462 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



PELARGONIUM 



Pelargonium is a beautiful name and the name of a beautiful flower. 

 While the bedding Geraniums belong to the Pelargoniums, we hardly 

 know them by that name and it is well that some sort of distinction 

 should be made between them and the beautiful new sorts of show 

 flowers we have today, such as Easter Greeting, Gardener's Joy, 

 Swabian Maid, Wurtembergia, Lucy Becker and Wolfgang Goethe. 

 All these and many others surely deserve to be classed as show 

 Pelargoniums and all make beautiful flowering pot plants for Spring 

 and early Summer flowering. A well-flowered plant is so beautiful 

 that a customer cannot help but buy it. 



Usually when you mention Pelargoniums, the first thing you 

 think of is the white fly that comes along with it, either when you 

 first get the plants or after you have them awhile. However, there 

 are plenty of specialists today who will supply you with clean stock. 



You should know that a healthy, growing Pelargonium isn't 

 nearly as apt to get infested with white fly or form a desirable 

 breeding place as a stunted one; but if you never had a white fly 

 in your place and happen to have a batch of Pelargoniums at a 



Fig. 231. PELARGONIUMS. Whoever named this variety "Easter Greeting" cer- 

 tainly chose well, for it and its companions are among the showiest of Easter plants. 

 They can be grown on, too, at a moderate price which means a good deal to the 



smaller florist 



