GARDENING WITH SUSIE LONGDELL: Pelargoniums

Pelargoniums deserve better. Sure they are common, easy and their good looks can coarsen with age.
And sure these are not the attributes any star would aspire too.
Yet Victorians, who were quick to judge a lady described thus, embraced them with enthusiasm and they have been an essential player in the typical New Zealand home garden since the 19th century.
Poor pelargoniums have even faced the ignominy of being pushed out of the plant genus geranium, thus losing the right to the name gardeners have long given them.
Maybe this helps explain why they are largely overlooked by gardeners today. Another reason is probably they are so easy to grow, something that you would think would count in their favour.
Part of the trouble is that easiness encompasses propagation. Put a cutting in the ground and unless you rot it with overwatering, it will form roots, grow in flower in a short time.
Such a readily created plant is not the sort of plants gardeners will pay big money for and not the sort that commercial growers are going to make their fortunes out of (not that any New Zealand grower makes a fortune anyway) .
And in this 'instant' age, if we can't buy a ready-made plant at the garden centre, we tend to overlook it.
Yet pelargoniums are ideal for the Bay of Plenty. The frost that can kill them off in colder climates is not generally a problem.
They love our sunny weather and, as you would expect from plants that come mostly from South Africa, they are drought resistant and, what is more, grow happily in sandy beach gardens.
They are also versatile when it comes to style.
They feature strongly in the true Mediterranean garden and are perfect in Kiwi-style cottage gardens. Their bright flowers can hold their own in sub-tropical styles and they are informal enough to fill pots and patches close to the house if you want a few bright flowers in a garden based on a more native bush-style approach.
Then there are forms that make ideal summer bedding plants in more formal or park-like gardens and some that sit happily with succulents.
To top it off, you can use pelargoniums' bright flowers as a food garnish and some come with strongly-scented leaves you can use to flavour dishes and in potpourri.
Their drawbacks? Although long-lived, they lose vigour with age and with it some of their good looks and some of their pest and disease resistance. Nevertheless, they flower on regardless - and it's easy to snip off some new cuttings off and start some new plants growing.
Getting down to details, pelargoniums are usually divided roughly into four groups for gardening purposes and each has its own style and growing strengths.
First, there are the ivy-leafed ones, which can be distinguished by their shiny, somewhat succulent leaves. These ones are naturally spreading and can be used to suppress weeds.
With a little help, they will climb a small fence and are sometimes are seen adorning the base of lamp and power poles on street verges.
Where they really shine is in hanging baskets - either mass planted from some tip cuttings or as part of a mixed basket in which both their foliage and their flowers are of value.
In modern times, the range of ivy types' flower colours has been extended by some new varieties, an excellent example of which is the dark burgundy flowered Tomcat. These modern ivies are covered by PVRs so will cost a little more than older ones.
The next and largest group is the zonales, These are the typical geraniums of European window boxes and the brilliant red ones that feature sometimes in scenes of Buckingham Palace.
Their mat leaves are rounded in overall outline but have lots of indentations like all pelargoniums.
A compact form is used as quick-growing, long-flowering, drought-resistant bedding plants. All sizes are ideal for pots and non-trailing window box plants.
Some zonales are grown more for their fancy leaf patterns, featuring dark blotches and/or various degrees of variegation, either yellow or creamy white.
The third and showiest group is the regales. They have the fanciest flowers, many of which are bi-coloured or tri-coloured.
Some of these grow tall enough for a modest flowering hedge at the beach - or better still a screen for a unattractive fence or wall, which will give them wind protection because these are the ones that can be broken by strong winds. (If this happens, it's not a major calamity because you can use the broken pieces to start off more plants.)
You will sometimes find some modern forms of regales at the garden centre.
These tend to have bigger, more showy flowers and their plants are less likely to get straggly with age than ones you will find in older gardens.
Regals lack some of the charming informality of the typical, single-coloured rounded pelargonium head of flowers that is common to the ivy and zonale types. And their leaves are more sharply indented and 'crisper' looking.
Pelargoniums in general are generally classed as sub-shrubs, being too woody to be classed as true perennials but not woody enough to be classed as true shrubs.
Of them all, regales tend closest to shrubs and one of their best uses is as a source of foreground summer colour in the traditional shrub bed.
All pelargoniums have scented leaves, but in the fourth group, the scents are distinctive. Some are citrus-like, such as the lemon and lime-scented ones.
Others, such as nutmeg pelargonium, are spicy.
In general this groups lacks showy flowers or leaves. The peppermint pelargonium, which has particularly aromatic leaves, is one exception with its comparatively large, velvety leaves (but insignificant flowers).
It has value as an ornamental foliage plant - although one that can cover quite an expanse of ground in a favourable situation if unchecked.
All these different types of pelargonium strike equally easy from cuttings. This makes them great fillers in a new garden.
They are also an option in rented properties because you can takes cuttings with you when you move.
But just because they are generally cheap and cheerful, doesn't mean you should discount them all in a more developed garden.