The Scented Geranium, In Focus

My cousin just sent me a close-up of delicate flower petals. I could not see the plant they were attached to, but I got the impression it was growing happily indoors. I puzzled over the photo for a minute. Then it came to me… geranium.

That got me thinking about my grandmother, who tended a Scented Geranium for years. She overwintered the sizable plant indoors, enjoying the perfume from its leaves which could not withstand cold. She did not worry about flowers during the plant’s indoor stays. Instead, she focused on foliage. Then, each summer, she would place the impressive Scented Geranium outdoors so sunshine and fresh air could inspire it to bloom. Bloom it did.

Talk about traditional beauties. Most of us know geraniums well. They are old-fashioned, comforting sights. But some are anything but common when it comes to certain attributes, such as having fragranced foliage.

Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium, for one, has characteristics my grandmother would have loved. Prince Rupert has a citrusy perfume that makes itself known when its leaves are rubbed. It has pinkish blooms she would find beautiful. And the variety I favor has variegated, ruffled foliage, which gives the plant a lacy look.

Creamy leaf margins make the light-green foliage of Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium even more attractive than the foliage of similar plants. On darker days, variegated leaves seem to have more life than their single-toned counterparts. And when the sun does hit them, oh how they dance in the light! 

I can now pick out a Scented Geranium such as Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium with ease. To know what Scented Geraniums are, it helps to know what they are not: They have upright growth and are tender perennials, but they are not the same tender perennials with relatively few leaves, plus mop-heads of red, pink, white, or salmon petals. (These are what we, stateside, consider ‘annual’ geraniums.) No, Scented Geraniums have a real flourish of leaves which extend the lengths of their stems. Their blooms appear more like delicate wildflowers than rounded balls of petals. But Scented Geraniums also should not be confused with hardy geraniums, or cranesbill. Although the flowers of Scented Geranium plants look a bit like cranesbill flowers, cranesbill is hardy in many Zones, spreads on rhizomes, and ‘wakes up’ each summer to produce simple flowers that decorate mounds of low-growing foliage. Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium and other Scented Geraniums have foliage that grows tall. They are grounded by fibrous roots. And they will not tolerate outdoor chills. The same plant… no….

Honestly, the simplest way to pick out a Scented Geranium is to rub a leaf and see if a pleasant scent greets you. But you can also look for the attributes just noted. Once you find one Scented Geranium, you are sure to want more.

I thought my grandmother’s method of keeping a Scented Geranium as a houseplant was hers alone, and now my cousin’s. But Prince Rupert Scented Geranium can start out as a houseplant in the cold weeks ahead. It can then go outdoors once frost is no longer a risk. Starting out as a houseplant, this ‘prince of a plant’ will gain strength as it prepares for its outdoor life come summer. It is indoor-outdoor greenery at its best.

Funny how one glimpse of something beautiful can get a person thinking…. The sight of the petals from my cousin’s plant got me thinking about both past and future. That has me planning for a summer garden that will include Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium, times three or five. I might place one or more Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium plants in a patio container which I can later pull indoors with ease, and I certainly will dig others into the ground (and then dig them out for overwintering). 

Prince Rupert Variegated Geranium and the summer sun… neither can arrive soon enough.