A very fine Pelargonium
 

I don't often become wildly enthusiastic about scented-leaved
Pelargoniums (geraniums), but one I bought from Ray and Sacha about 4
years ago really has performed magnificently. Almost immediately
after planting I lost the label and forgot the name. I also forgot to
look it out every time I visited the nursery so it was a pleasant
surprise to see it on Charlie's web site while browsing the Roseland
pages this afternoon.

It is Pelargonium 'Paton's Unique', which is an awful mouthful for
such a splendid variety. Over the years, with only occasional pruning
it has developed a somewhat wayward, trailing habit, cascading 4 or 5
feet down a sunny wall. Left to its own devices on level ground, I
suspect it would form a knee-high, spreading mound. It carries
flowers for maybe 10 months of the year with a 3 month long climax of
colour during the summer months. The foliage is attractively cut and
indented and to my mind is fragrant of eau de cologne and resin.

It is hardy and drought tolerant in my garden, rarely needing any
added fertiliser - in fact I would bet that it is far happier in poor
dry soils. For coastal gardens in mild areas, I can't recommend this
highly enough and in less suitable climates, it would make a fantastic
'patio plant' in summer. I took this a short while ago and even now
there are lots of buds opening:
http://i8.tinypic.com/720eu5h.jpg

A very fine Pelargonium
 

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
ups.com...
I don't often become wildly enthusiastic about scented-leaved
Pelargoniums (geraniums), but one I bought from Ray and Sacha about 4
years ago really has performed magnificently. Almost immediately
after planting I lost the label and forgot the name. I also forgot to
look it out every time I visited the nursery so it was a pleasant
surprise to see it on Charlie's web site while browsing the Roseland
pages this afternoon.

It is Pelargonium 'Paton's Unique'

I agree with you Dave. I am so envious that it is hardy with you. Mine is in
a pot, and consequently gets cut back every year when it is overwintered
under glass. I have had some other uniques which haven't been as robust.

A very fine Pelargonium
 

On 10/11/07 20:51, in article
, "Dave Poole"
wrote:

I don't often become wildly enthusiastic about scented-leaved
Pelargoniums (geraniums), but one I bought from Ray and Sacha about 4
years ago really has performed magnificently. Almost immediately
after planting I lost the label and forgot the name. I also forgot to
look it out every time I visited the nursery so it was a pleasant
surprise to see it on Charlie's web site while browsing the Roseland
pages this afternoon.

It is Pelargonium 'Paton's Unique', which is an awful mouthful for
such a splendid variety. snip

Glad you like this one - we think it's quite special but then I am a push
over for the scented leaf Pelargoniums, even though so many are not hardy.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

A very fine Pelargonium
 

There are a few others, which have also done reasonably well, all of
them growing out of doors permanently:

Pelargonium acetosum (Sorrel geranium)- what a fine plant for a
specimen hanging basket. Mine has been out, hanging up exposed to
north easterly winds for several years where it gets watered when I
remember and almost never fertilised. A mass of succulent, very grey-
green scalloped edged leaves and countless large clusters of 8cms.
wide, spidery, coral-salmon flowers throughout summer and autumn. If
it weren't for the fact that it is a martyr to tortrix moth
caterpillar it would be my all time favourite Pelargonium:

http://i10.tinypic.com/6l40bc3.jpg

'Scarlet Unique' is as Peter Sutton infers less vigorous than
'Paton's' and with smaller, less freely produced flowers, but they are
so very flashy that just a few make a lot of impact. It is still
reliable in terms of hardiness here, but can die back slightly in
summer so it is only a moderate sized plant.

http://i1.tinypic.com/6o0brid.jpg

'Captain Starlight' is a 'butterfly Pelargonium' (rather like a regal
but more delicate and smaller in all of its proportions) that has
surprised me by performing well every year. Its slender, wiry, 40cms
high stems are clad in neat, finely toothed rounded leaves and topped
with showy clusters of flower. The upper petals are a velvety
purplish red edged paler, while the lower are mauve lilac with deeper
blotches.

http://i5.tinypic.com/6pje70l.jpg

One Pelargonium was a victim of its own success. Pelargonium cordatum
took little more than 2 years to reach shoulder high and nearly as
much across. I like it because of the very tight clusters of small,
pale mauve flowers carried more or less all at once. The fine
somewhat heart shaped leaves are silvery green beneath adding to the
attraction and it is certainly a very tough shrub. Unfortunately its
largely once-flowering tendency means that it takes up a lot of room
for such a short period of flowering in the year so it had to go.
Pity, because it has a quality look about it.

http://i3.tinypic.com/6ppmia0.jpg

A very fine Pelargonium
 

In article . com,
says...
I don't often become wildly enthusiastic about scented-leaved
Pelargoniums (geraniums), but one I bought from Ray and Sacha about 4
years ago really has performed magnificently. Almost immediately
after planting I lost the label and forgot the name. I also forgot to
look it out every time I visited the nursery so it was a pleasant
surprise to see it on Charlie's web site while browsing the Roseland
pages this afternoon.

It is Pelargonium 'Paton's Unique', which is an awful mouthful for
such a splendid variety. Over the years, with only occasional pruning
it has developed a somewhat wayward, trailing habit, cascading 4 or 5
feet down a sunny wall. Left to its own devices on level ground, I
suspect it would form a knee-high, spreading mound. It carries
flowers for maybe 10 months of the year with a 3 month long climax of
colour during the summer months. The foliage is attractively cut and
indented and to my mind is fragrant of eau de cologne and resin.

It is hardy and drought tolerant in my garden, rarely needing any
added fertiliser - in fact I would bet that it is far happier in poor
dry soils. For coastal gardens in mild areas, I can't recommend this
highly enough and in less suitable climates, it would make a fantastic
'patio plant' in summer. I took this a short while ago and even now
there are lots of buds opening:
http://i8.tinypic.com/720eu5h.jpg


There are several that do very well outdoors (allthough we can not leave
them out all winter) P. quercifolium and its form Royal Oak both have
wonderful leaves, and P. Pink Capricorn (syn P. capitatum) does well even
in the wet. In recent years I have been trying some outdoors but they
tend to be of the rosette type like P. transvaalense, the sub shrubby
ones never make it! The trouble with pelargoniums is there are so many
that like orchids you can end up with too many and it squeezes out other
plants :~)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea