Container Gardening: Geraniums

Geraniums are a container garden staple. Who doesn’t remember grandma’s porch with it’s containers of red geraniums? For this ubiquity, the geranium has garnered a reputation as a rather stodgy plant and not very exciting. At least this is what I used to think.

For the longest time I stayed away from geraniums as visions of my grandmother’s front porch loomed in my head. But geraniums are a great container plant for many reasons, the best being that are incredibly heat and drought tolerant. They can thrive where other plants wilt. They are also constant bloomers, although deadheading is important. However, deadheading geraniums is easier that with most plants as flowers grow in clusters on long stems. Best of all, they come in a wide variety of flower colors as well as foliage colors.

We’ve all seen the red geraniums with a spike and vinca vines. It’s a classic to the point that it’s beyond tired. Even mixing up this combination with a pink or neon purple geranium is a breath of fresh air. Try geraniums with coleus, bacopa, heliotrope or salvia. As with petunias, try geraniums as the filler plant rather than the focal point. Choose geraniums for their foliage color. There are many new ones where the foliage is the star. Use them in the really hot spots of your garden where you struggle to get plants to thrive. You’ll be surprised at just how fresh this container workhorse can look.


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