Scrambling Pelargoniums
 Ivy Geranium Ville de Dresden scrambling over our front gate post.
By Jeff Jones
Most gardeners have experienced a plant that has some memorable characteristics that appeals to them, not something they are actually seeking, it just happens – and that’s what happened to me with Ivy Geraniums. I live in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, a hot dry climate and have grown Zonal Geraniums (Pelargoniums) for years. They are a tough long lived long flowering perennial. Some twenty years ago I planted an 80 metre front fence of Ivy Geraniums on a caravan park. They were tied to that fence as a trellis. Spectacular results for a couple of years, however they were planted in the ground and watering in summer encouraged summer weeds. They were invaded mainly by Bermuda Couch. Eventually the whole lot, fence and all was rolled up and taken to the tip. I continued to grow Zonal Geraniums in pots, and still do without couch problems.
In all of these situations they thrive due to their vigour and long dense flowering periods.
There are many cultivars as they have been extensively hybridized over the years. On doing research into this plant, I found that in their native state in South Africa, the Ivy Geranium Pelargonium Peltatum was described as a prostrate plant, that grew as a ground cover over rocks or scrambled over low growing shrubs. So, in March 2015 I decided to conduct an experiment in growing them as self-scrambling plants – not tied to trellises. For the experiment I chose four Cultivars that have performed well for me and I had young plants in my nursery. The four Cultivars were Ville de Paris, Lilac Cascade, Decora Rose and Acapulco – all singles.
I prepared 5 x 50 litre pots, filled with my own potting mix of 50% red loam and 50% cheap potting mix (to break up the red loam that sets like cement), and a couple of small cups of Osmocote.
 2 Ivy geraniums with a bush for support
In 4 of those 5 pots I planted two each of the afore mentioned cultivars and in each of those four pots I erected a Tomato Cage 1.5m. high enclosed with Garden Mesh 100 x 100mm.
In each of these 4 pots I placed a lightly branched bush shrub for the plant to get support from. Little did I realise at this stage how important those dead shrubs were. In the 5th pot I planted to 2 Decora Roses but without the shrub. The 5th pot was planted to another 2 Decora Roses. The rising Ivies experiment was started on the 3rd March 2015 and the aim of the experiment was to see if Ivy Geraniums can be grown another way and add a little to the story of Ivy Geraniums. Most people I know are gardeners, so I am sure they will understand and relate to this project if they appreciate this Prince of Plants, the Ivy Geranium. By the end of April I had 10 pots in the experiment. I then converted 2 superb specimen glazed pots, probably 100L. Tomato cages with additional uprights to cater for the size of the plants plus wire and shrubs. There were 3 plants in each pot, one contained White Blizzard, the other White Stemmed Lila.
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March – June ‘15
After the initial planting, and before I had results, I became quite enthusiastic about the project, and started adding additional plants. The first were 2 concrete planters in which I planted a La France and a Royal Purple, both had the tomato cage – wire mesh and a light dead shrub treatment. Then I converted a further 3 well established Ivy Geraniums growing in recycled PVC pipes 70 – 90cms tall and 300mm in diameter. These tall pots allowed cascading geraniums to cascade and the conclusion I reached was that the 70 – 90cm works well. |
La France
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Royal Purple
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Ville de Paris
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To convert these established plants to grow up, if they would, I cut them off level with the top of the pot and gave them the same treatment – tomato cage, garden wire and dead shrub etc.
By September 2015 a definite pattern had emerging with the initial 5 plants. The 4 with the shrubs have about 90 - 95% of their plants growing up and are about 40cm high. They each have a few shoots that grow outside the cage. I have tried poking them back inside the cage, and as they are very brittle and the squares in garden mesh are only 100 x 100mm most break off. |
Decora Rose
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The big positive story is that the plants appear to be aware that with support they can and do prefer to grow upwards.
The 5th pot in the original line up WITHOUT THE SHRUBS is probably half the height, very bushy, with more than half their shoots outside the cage. |
