Geranium ejects seed 16 ft.
By bowl_you
6 comments
by John Beaulieu (Bowl-you)
Now in mid-summer the weather has cooled down to reasonable temperatures, allowing me to get the garden work done that I had put off during the heat wave. There is not a lot of time for computer stuff like working on photos and blogging… I just want to be outdoors when it is so nice! So, this blog will be short. It is about something interesting (only to a geranium enthusiast) that I have observed earlier in the summer.
I have a small collection of varieties of Geranium maculatum, which includes a couple of the dark leaved forms such as ‘Espresso’ and ‘Elizabeth Ann’. These are grown in a somewhat shady spot well back from the edge of the bed (because this area stays fairly moist). Hostas, daylilies, and astilbe are planted around the edge (yes – I do grow more than geraniums) This year I have been finding lots of seedlings out in the lawn which appeared to be dark leaved G. maculatums.
I started to dig them out and pot them up. After finding about a dozen plants, I noticed that they were all in an arc, about the same distance from the parent plants.
I got out my tape measure, to see how far the plants were ejecting their seed.
It turned out that they were all about the same distance, 16 feet!
I found more in the lawn than in the garden, but I’m sure it is harder for a seedling to establish under the deep shade of all the larger plants. I only seemed to find seedlings of dark leaved varieties, perhaps because the dark leaf may dominate when the bees cross polinate, or maybe the green leaf varieties are just harder to find in the weedy lawn!
10 Aug, 2013
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Comments
Very interesting. I do like the way members enjoy sharing little gems like this with others. Well spotted but even better that you bothered to tell us about it.
10 Aug, 2013
Hi Can you Grow From Seed. With out A Greenhouse. I have Just Got A Propagation Box Will that do For seeds. Regards Lynda
10 Sep, 2013
They do self seed so it should be easy, even without a propagation box. But seed you collect from your own plants may well be crosses and not as good as the parents. (Or better if you are very lucky...)
10 Sep, 2013
I sow a lot of hardy geranium seed direct in-ground late in the fall (so no germination happens before winter) and that works well - after all that is how they would naturally seed. My very best results are by winter-sowing in pots, leaving the pots in unheated garage to experience the cold and move them out after all chance of frost is passed (sometimes moving them back in for frost warnings). The pots of seedlings can be moved around for the best light and position. I'll have a whole blog with photos on this eventually. A few of my not-so-hardy geraniums such as those from South Africa, the Canary Islands or some Erodiums get sown indoors in a heated plantroom early in spring, then moved out when it is safe.
11 Sep, 2013
Sounds like you have a huge project going forward.
12 Sep, 2013
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That explains a lot - I'm finding all sorts of geraniums popping up here and there, some of them crosses.None as far away as that though!
10 Aug, 2013