Expert: Long Island Gardener - 4/1/2010

Question
hi!!!! well i m not sure whether i m in right place or not ...i just am interested in geranium ...i have a lot of geraniums different colors and types  zonal, double zonal ,dwarfs ,stars etc .........and i import it from UK and USA annually ...new colors every year...what i want to ask here is the process of getting new colors in geranium... actually its getting difficult day by day to import new colors from UK and USA now ... so what i am planning is to learn how to get new colors from it myself...is it possible to breed new colors ? every year i get a lot of cuttings ...but i cannot produce new color myself....i just want to ask how to do this ???is it possible???

Answer
We grow Geraniums on Long Island as Annuals, so I suppose I could stretch this answer and turn it into an Annuals Question.

Hybrid crosses and breedings are a very involved hobby requiring patience and time.  Even if you had a high tech lab to accelerate growth, there is no way getting around it: The time involved is just the way life is.  So be prepared.

That said, I think the whole process is quite fascinating.  Every genus, every species, has their own complicate rules of DNA.  And now scientists are writing the rules of DNA, splicing between Kingdoms, putting jellyfish genes in mice, petunia genes in roses.

In the case of Geraniums -- and I assume you refer to Pelargoniums, just to make it official -- early botanists found them fickle enough.  As the South Carolina Landscape Assn noted a while back about early Geraniums: "Many of the best-known hybrids of the last century were actually sports (natural mutations) of existing Pelargonium xhortorum; the sports were propagated from cuttings of the sported stem -- a slow process for increasing the number of plants. Those that were produced from seed were open pollinated, but the geraniums didn't breed true from seed. Gardeners couldn't sow seeds of a specific variety and grow plants with the same traits. If a seed-produced hybrid was deemed beautiful or different enough to perpetuate, it had to be done with cuttings of that original hybrid."

The article posted includes tricks to get seeds to germinate. Here's the URL for the full article: www.scnla.com/Article_of_the_Month_08_07.html

They point out that there are advantages to raising these from seed.

"Geraniums from seed are primarily available in single-flowered form only. Their flowers tend to shatter--a drawback for growers but an advantage for you because you don't need to groom the plants, pinching off dead blooms. The colors can be spectacular and include a wide range: bright red, scarlet, scarlet-and-white, orange-salmon, coral, pink-and-white, soft pink, hot pink, pure white, and lavender.  Zonal and ivy geraniums are the types you can grow successfully from seed."

Geraniums are near the top of every list of Best Selling Potted Plants here in the U.S.  They're pretty, they're easy to grow and they are inexpensive  But you may want to consider yet another reason to like them: Researchers in Ohio recently learned that they can be used to control Japanese Beetles, a problem you may not have there but which is one of the biggest gardening headaches all over the country here.

Over in England, where gardening is a national pastime, the Pelargonium Society runs a website devoted to their favorite, flowery subject:

www.thepags.org.uk/basics.html

They point out this plant hails from species native to South Africa.  That's important for your purposes, because much of the time, when a plant is hybridized thousands of miles from its native habitat, many "special" genes recede into oblivion.  Those "special" genes are still carried by the original species.  If you want to find something really new, you'll need to get your hands on some of THOSE plants.  They may not look like much on the outside, but inside, there are traits buried in their DNA just waiting for you to find them.

Me, I'm partial to Regal Geraniums, known around here as Martha Washington Geraniums -- the flower that dazzled everyone at my sister Patricia's wedding to husband Lee.  They have a short bloom here but they are truly spectacular.

Back to your new hobby -- I encourage you to join the Pelargonium Society if only to find fellow Geranium specialists.  I guarantee there are others who have already been there and done that and will give you something I cannot: the voice of experience building your own hybrid collection.  These societies tend to trade one anothers' seeds, yet another advantage of membership.

I hope all of this was helpful.  Thanks for writing.  And good luck with your new pursuit,

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER