August, 1912 AMERICAN 
& 
¥ 
HOMES AND 
GARDENS 289 
Types of Geranium leaves 
The Geranium 
By F. F. Rockwell 
Photographs by the Author and Nathan R. Graves 
F OUR good, common flowers, the least 
known and the least appreciated is the 
Geranium. That may seem a strange state- 
ment to make; however, to my mind, there 
is not the least doubt about it. “But,” you 
may say, ‘look at the hundreds of thousands 
of Geraniums that are grown by the florist; one sees them 
everywhere—no other flower so often.” All that is true 
enough. But can you give me the names of half a dozen 
good varieties? Can you tell me in what way they have 
been improved during the last twenty years? What enthus- 
iast about Sweet Peas, Dahlias or Gladioli could not name 
you a score of his favorite varieties and tell you any num- 
ber of fine points regarding their culture. But how often 
do you find any one who knows about Geraniums? The 
majority of folk, simply order a dozen “red,” a dozen 
“white” and a dozen ‘“‘pink” from the florist in the Spring, 
and that suffices. I grant you that the Geranium is the most 
popular of all flowers, but I contend that my original state- 
ment is true, nevertheless. 
There are good reasons 
why the Geranium is the most 
popular flower. First of all 
it is an optimistic flower— 
given half a chance it is al- 
ways bright and cheery. And 
then it can be had in bloom 
the whole year around. It 
is easy to take care of, and 
will struggle to show some 
beauty even under gross neg- 
lect. It covers a wide range 
of colors, in both delicate 
and intense shades. Why, 
then, in comparison to many 
other things, has it been so 
sligited by the professional 
horticulturalists who have, 
by special ‘‘societies,” adver- 
tising and general publicity, 
pushed otter flowers to the 
front? To the insider the 
answer is not far to seek— 
there is less money in it! 
Given half a chance, as J 
have said, the Geranium will 
thrive. Under all sorts of 
The Madame de Thebes Geranium, detente pink inveel : 
conditions, in all kinds of places, one sees its cheerful colors 
flaunted freely; great beds of it in the broad lawns of the 
wealtniest, and blossom-covered plants in the window or by 
the doorstep of the factory tenement. This means that it 
cannot be particular about soil, or temperature, or fine 
degrees of moisture. In fact, only yesterday, I noticed 
under a bench in the greenhouse some old plants that had 
been thrown there over a year ago, and had not been 
thought of since, were actually beginning to bloom! Any 
other really useful plant most certainly would have died. 
NEW TYPES AND COLORS. 
But though you may see the Geranium everywhere, very 
seldom do you find anyone who knows what varieties they 
have, or anything like a representative collection of the finer 
sorts. While in this country the Geranium has been com- 
paratively ignored, abroad it has received the attention it 
merits, and in France and Germany especially, it has been 
developed to a marvelous degree. This work on the part of 
skillful hybridizers has resulted not only in new varieties 
and shades, but in new types 
as well. 
The Geraniums most 
commonly seen belong to the 
double and semidouble class, 
though now and then one 
finds a single. Some of the 
most beautiful flowers are to 
be found among the singles, 
but they lack substance, and 
as a rule, the blooms become 
mutilated so quickly, through 
the loss of petals, that this 
makes a very serious objec- 
tion to this class). Among 
the semidoubles and the dou- 
bles there is a wide range of 
form in the trusses, some be- 
ing so open as to show the 
individual florets, and others 
almost as densely petaled as 
a Petunia. A striking and 
most important feature of 
many of the new doubles is 
the exceedingly long and stiff 
stem on which the flower- 
truss is born. This is mak- 
ing the Geranium of value 
MEEPS hate, EER 
oy tag Tee 
en SL 
