While many plants have scented flowers, the scented geranium has fragrant leaves. Whether you brush against them or hold the leaves in your hand, the majestic scent releases and fills up the air. Many gardeners grow the scented geranium because it gives them fragrance on tap. Why wait for the flowers to bloom when you accept leaves spreading their smell all yr circular.

Scented Geranium

The leaves are non only a source of fragrance but you can use them to make tea besides. In the kitchen, the chopped leaves give a distinct flavor to soups, pasta dishes, and fifty-fifty grilled fish. It as well has many health benefits and its aroma has a calming effect on women during labor. So you'll have many uses for this aromatic plant and you tin can explore more than culinary options also. This article covers growing and caring for the scented geranium in your garden.

Scented Geranium at a Glance

The scented geranium (Pelargonium) is a native of South Africa although it has no relationship to geraniums as a species. It'southward non clear where they got that name but they have been effectually since Victorian Britain. Mainly grown for their effluvious leaves, they are not actually perennials and are considered annuals.

The average height of the fully grown constitute is nigh 3 feet. However, you tin have varieties as modest as one foot loftier. They can grow betwixt i and two feet wide making them ideal every bit indoor plants. The foliage is ofttimes green with blue shades.

The fragrance of the scented geranium varies widely between different species and cultivars of this fascinating plant. The leaves range from spicy to chocolaty, shine, or fruity scents. As for the flowers, they are either white or pale pink and bloom in the summertime.

Scented Geranium Varieties

As with many gardening plants, the more popular they are the more cultivars they have. Horticulturalists take been experimenting with the scented geranium for centuries and at present you lot take an amazing variety of species and cultivars to choose from.

  • Apricot-scented geranium: Information technology has a distinct fruity smell that has a sweet flavor to it. Information technology is mainly a shrub with stunning bright greenish leaves. The flowers bloom in the early on spring and are either red or pinkish. It has hardiness zones between 9 and 11 and averages 20 inches high.
  • 'Chocolate Mint' scented geranium: As the name implies, the large leaves of this species olfactory property chocolaty with a hint of mint. The leaves are bright dark-green with nighttime ruby-red patches in the middle and maroon veins. Information technology averages virtually iii anxiety high and has hardiness zones between 9 and xi. The flowers are usually lavander.
  • Fernleaf scented geranium: In that location's piffling incertitude what inspired this cultivar. The leaves are thin and full of teeth nigh like fern leaves. The fragrance, even so, is more than like a pino tree than ferns. Information technology averages nigh 36 inches loftier and 24 inches wide. This cultivar has the same hardiness zones every bit the 2 species in a higher place.
  • 'Angel Optics Light' scented geranium: A small-scale institute that only grows to 15 inches high and the same in width. The flowers here are bigger and more distinctive than in other species. They come in different shades of pinkish.
  • Kokosnoot-scented geranium: The leaves look more than similar scallops and are light dark-green in color. This is a spreader that grows wide more high. You lot tin use it equally a ground comprehend plant as information technology reaches xviii inches wide and only 10 inches high. In some states, it is considered a weed.
  • 'French Lace' scented geranium: Both the leaves and flowers are highly ornamental. The green leaves have deep grooves and creamy edges. They smell similar lemons. The flowers are pale pink and bloom atop the colorful foliage. This species has an average size of 18 inches loftier.
  • Rose-scented geranium: The hairy leaves are lobed and almost tubular. This species is grown commercially to produce geranium oil. The flowers are pink and exquisite looking with nighttime pink patterns in the middle. The plants grow to a maximum peak of 3 feet and the same in width.

All these cultivars abound in hardiness zones between nine and 11 and so they adopt warm climates. However, if you grow information technology indoors as a houseplant, information technology volition thrive no matter what the conditions is like outside. Every bit long as information technology gets adequate light, it won't complain.

How to Abound the Scented Geranium

Thanks to their versatility and ability to adapt both indoors and outdoors, scented geraniums are piece of cake to abound. You tin abound them any time of the year as a houseplant. But if you worry nearly cold winters and their touch on garden plants, then information technology's best to plant the cut in the jump. Here's how to grow the scented geranium in like shooting fish in a barrel steps.

  1. From a healthy constitute, select a stalk with at to the lowest degree iii sets of leaves growing on it.
  2. Employ a sterilized knife or clean pruning scissors to cut the stalk.
  3. Make clean the base of the cut and remove any leaves that could end upwards buried in the soil.
  4. Select a small pot with enough of drainage holes at the bottom.
  5. Fill the pot with a regular potting mix and add ane-tertiary portion of sand or perlite. This improves the aeration and drainage of the soil.
  6. Dip the cutting in a hormone growth powder and shake off the backlog powder.
  7. Dig a hole in the soil about iii inches deep and plant the cutting. Backfill the soil to ensure the cutting can stand upright.
  8. Brand certain no leaves are nigh or nether the soil surface. They will rot in the moisture soil.
  9. Water the soil enough to make it moist but not soaked.
  10. Snip off the top of the cutting to trigger the cutting to focus on growing roots, not new leaves.
  11. Don't overwater the pot. Permit it to dry out out before yous h2o it again.
  12. Continue the pot in a warm place outside away from the directly sunlight. You tin can likewise go on information technology indoors in a brightly lit place.
  13. After a week or more than, the cut develops roots and new leaves sprout at the acme of the found.

Scented Geranium Intendance

One of the best features of scented geraniums is that they're not fussy nigh soil or growing conditions. Some varieties tolerate the cold weather condition while others tin grow in shaded areas. And when you want to spread their fragrance around, only mist them on a hot summertime day.

Soil

Information technology goes without saying that well-drained soil is a bones requirement of flowering plants whether they are perennials or annuals. This is why you should add sand or perlite to the potting mix when you lot plant the scented geranium. The roots of the plant prefer more than air pockets in the soil than water. You tin besides mix in organic materials if you think the sandy soil dries out too fast. They help with water retention and also provide the plant with tiresome-release nutrients.

Watering

Whether they grow in pots or outdoors, scented geraniums don't need likewise much watering. At best you should water the soil to make it moist. Overwatering can kill the plants even in the summertime months. Equally a dominion of thumb, you should permit the top few inches of the soil to go dry before you water the plant. In a pot where the soil dries out faster, y'all can test the topsoil with your finger and water it if it'south dry. In areas where you get loftier humidity levels, avoid watering or misting the leaves since that could encourage fungal infestations.

Pruning

While the scented geranium is compact in size, information technology is notorious for its fast growth rates. Within weeks the cutting you had planted becomes a lush green establish with plenty of branches and leaves. As you might expect, yous volition demand to prune at least in one case a year. The best fourth dimension is in late summer after the terminal bloom has dropped. You shouldn't clip information technology in the fall since the new shoots will non survive in the cold wintertime months. Other than that, you should remove dead branches and fallen flowers regularly to maintain the ornamental aspects of the constitute.

Pests and Diseases

With humidity and warm weather comes insects. That's just a fact of life that gardeners accept to alive with. And so when growing the scented geranium, exist prepared to deal with some pesky insects and health conditions that affect your constitute. You have whiteflies, slugs, and snails to worry most. Whiteflies feed on the juicy leaves and sap in the stems which could ruin the await and ornamental appeal of the plants.

Every bit for slugs and snails, they could kill the plant outright if you don't arbitrate. Use neem oil to eliminate whiteflies. If the infestation is widespread, you might accept to get rid of the plant altogether and start a new 1. Information technology besides helps to space out the plants to permit ventilation. This prevents fungal infestations and insects from dissentious the plant.

Repotting

When growing the scented geranium in a pot, repotting becomes a necessity. The roots grow just as fast as the leaves and pretty before long, the pot gets too small for the plant. The best time to repot is in the spring before the almanac growth spurt. Cramped roots impact the growth of the plant and its fragrant leaves. Cull a pot one measure bigger than the electric current one. Fill it with the aforementioned potting mix and ship the plant to the new pot. Check the roots before repotting and brand certain they are healthy.