PELARGONIUM ANGEL GROUP - VARIEGATED Albert - some cream margins, flowers light lilac-pink with darker veins Annsbrook Beauty - irregular white to cream margin to 15% or so, flowers light pink with purple markings on all petals, just a dot or blotch on lovers, a very large and complex blotch on uppers, covering 30-40-% of the upper petal surfaface. Faint lemon scent but not truly a scented geranium. Fir Trees Ele - thin golden margin, flowers to 95% reddish-purple mark. Sport of 'Spanish Angel'. Golden Angel - yellow to greenish-yellow (if shaded) margin to 20%, very colorful, flowers mauve with dark blotch on uppers. US Patent #13813. It was not widely seen in the US until 2005. Sport of 'Darmsden'. Madame Layal Variegated (Variegated Madam Layal) - thin white margins, flowers "pansy type" much as 'Madame Layal' with purple uppers, lower ones light lavender with dark purple feathering and radiating veins. Its reverts to the old green sort with ease. Oldbury Duet - yellow to cream margins to 15% or so, margins whitish in shade, flowers with violet-red upper petals, mauve-pink and white lowers (duet=bicolor effect), sport of 'Tip Top Duet'. Rita Scheen - thin white margin, leaves sometimes deformed and cupped, flowers mostly light lilac to blush with reddish-purple blotch (to 70%) on upper petals. Faint lemon scent. Rita Scheen Improved - as above but variegation said to be more regular on flat leaves and with less deformed surface. The original may have virus. This is a Faye Brawner sport and since sports are seldom virus free it is apparently just a more stable chimeral manifestation. This is not a valid cultivar name and it surely deserves a new one. Sarah Don - dark green center on light green, flowers mauve with reddish-purple blotch PELARGONIUM CASCADE GROUP (P. x hortorum x P. peltatum) x ? also called "Balcon", "Ivy-Zonal Cross" and "Hybrid Ivy" Geraniums This group combines the relaxed, spreading habit of ivy Geraniums (P. peltatum) with the heat tolerance of zonal bedding types (P. x hortorum), borrowing double flowers, dense heads, and leaf colors from the later. They often cascade and as such as useful in baskets, balcony planters, and over walls. Other groups are likely in the mix and some are clearly hybrids to species sorts with narrow, brightly veined petals and leaves different from the main parent groups. Some authors such as Faye Brawner use the name "Cascade geraniums" for hybrids of P. frutetorum, a group of hyper-zonal types with very large dark margins of 20-80% of the surface. I discuss these below under the Dark Leaf and Hyper-Zonal Types section below. Historically speaking, the name "cascade" was first applied to truly cascading, trailing, balcony types from P. peltatum crossed to P. x hortorium. The following are popular clones and strains to date: 'Acapulco Compact Cascade' - bicolored single flowers in magenta-pink with whitish to blush centers. 'Alliance' - light orchid pink with darker pink markings on the upper petals, semi-double 'Apricot' - salmon-pink to peachy pink, dark blotched leafhttp://www.elj.com/geranium/ 'Baton Rouge'- flowers single, salmon, leaves shwoy with cream margins. Hard to root. 'Blue Spring' ('Blaur Fruhling')- lilac to odd bluish-lavender shade 'Bright Cascade' - very bright, nearly true red single. 'Bright Lass' - dark coral, semi-double 'Canary Island' - dark salmon-pink, singles. 'Deacon Fireball' - very bright scarlet flowers 'Decora Imperial' - - rich salmon red, single 'Decora Lavender' - rich lavender-pink, narrow, spaced petals 'Eastborne Beauty' - rose-red, double 'Elsi' - double, bright red flowers. Leaves lobed and with a nice white border. 'Elsner's Red and White' - bicolor single in red with white eye, cascades due to long internodes 'Elsner's Rose and White' - bicolor single in dark pink with white centers, cascades due to long internodes 'Forest Maid' - scarlet to rose-red flowers in large heads. Leaves are golden-green, subtle 'Grenchen' - bright crimson to coral-red flowers, strong plants. Probably 'Schone von Grenchen'? 'Harlequin Pretty Girl' - semi-double flowers in a bicolor of white and orange, orange with white stripes in most cases 'Indianapolis Pink' - bright pink, white throat, double 'Jack of Hearts' - double, salmon-pink, darker markings Jackpot Series 'Jackpot Liliac Mist' - light lavender tones 'Jackpot Rose' - dark pink, double 'The Joker' - flowers double, pink markings and spots in upper petals 'King of Hearts - light pink, red veins for contrast, double 'Lady Gertrude' - rich mauve-pink, purple markings, upper petals with whitish bases 'Lara Delight' - dark cerise pink, very huge floral width 'Lara Gem' - light pink, double pink 'Lila Compact Cascade' - abundant lavender-pink flowers, single 'Lila Mini Cascade' - much as above but smaller, mounded, smaller in most parts\ 'Madeline Crozy' - reddish-coral, double flowers 'Millfield Gem' - flowers double, rich amaranth-pink, showy red markings 'Millfield Rosebud' - light pink, full double with rosebud shape 'Mini Pink Cascade' - single pink, small plant, very floriferous. Same as 'Pink Mini Cascade'? 'Oldbury Cascade' - flowers single, red. Leaves margined cream to yellow. 'Pink Cascade' - single pink flowers in a bright magenta tone, whitish center. 'Queen of Hearts' - blush to light pink, double, large red marking on petals 'Red Mini Cacasde' - true red singles, very floriferous 'Remsquelle Variegated' - flowers blush to light pink, single, upper petals marked red, green and white leaf. 'Rococo' - pink, red veined, full double rose-bud like shape 'Schone von Grenchen' - double, rose-red to coral red flowers in large clusters. 'Sofie Cascade' - medium pink singles, very floriferous. Top Performer at Penn State trials in 2003. 'Souvenir of Villemaroy' - flowers cherry- red to true red, double, white reverse, showy contrast. 'Ten of Hearts' - light salmon, red veins, double 'Ville de Dresden' - white single flowers veins in dark violet-red, narrow petals, floriferous. 'White Compact Cascade' - floriferous white single, a hint of pink in each center. replaces PAC White Cascade for better branching and more flowers. PELARGONIUM X HORTORUM - ZONALE AND NON-ZONALE BEDDING This section is devoted to the classic pot plant and bedding hybrids with a green leaf or a slightly marked, zonale type of marking. As the number of known cultivars is staggering (well into 1200), this section will be devoted to photos of the best cultivars I have seen in my travels to trial gardens, garden centers, breeders, and Geranium specialtists. Your choice of cultivars and those available locally will definately vary. Look under "Pelargonium - Scented" below for general references on the genus in gardens. A superb website known as the Pelargonium Palette has a huge database with good photos and sources: http://www.elj.com/geranium/ Some of the top specialist and wholesale Pelargonium websites are reference books in themselves. I like the following for extra reading, expert opinions, and many, many images: http://www.geraniumsuk.com/ http://www.geraniumcottage.com.au/ http://www.gosbrookpelargoniums.com/ http://www.firtreespelargoniums.co.uk/ http://www.goldsmithseeds.com/ http://www.fibrex.co.uk/ http://www.ozgeraniums.com.au http://www.dereklloyddean.com/ http://www.pelargoniums.org.uk/ http://www.holtgeraniums.com/ http://www.fischerusa.com A Chronology of Pelargonium x hortorum cultivar introductions and their ornamental evolution: This is a original history based on my study of more than 80 original documents, first submitted October 2008, and is more complete I believe than histories included in the major Pelargonium reference works. As ever, your comments as NOS members and subscribers are most welcome. 1710 - P. zonale, the horseshoe or zonate stork's bill comes from Cape of Good Hope to England 1714 - P. inquinans, the "staining stork's bill" or "scarlet stork's bill" reaches England 1734 - Sir Thomas More in Flower Garden Displayed records a "silver-leaved geranium", having cream margins. 1768 - Miller reportedly mentions a variegated sport of P. zonale, perhaps the one known to More in 1734. The name 'Miller's Variegated' appeared in subsequant years, likely for the same plant. 1780 - Dr. Fothergill raises 'Fothergillii' which Burbridge in 1877 Cultivated Plants calls "one of the earliest improvements on P. zonale and is figured by Andrews in his 'Geraniaceae'. It is much larger in floral dimensions and is thought to be important in Beaton's later work in the Nosegay Group. In fact, the 1828 issue of The Gardener's Magazine gives the common name "scarlet nosegay geranium" for P. fothergillii, clearly suggesting this connection. 1799 - Henry Andrews of England writes the first Geranium guide, mentioning a dwarf zonale called minimum. It is probably the same variety (or basic theme) offered in the mid 1850's in Europe as 'Scarlet Minima' or 'Scarlet Minimum'. 1817 - a double-flowered variant of P. inquinans is mentioned, said to be grown in Ghent 1823 - 'Golden Chain' becomes a popular gold marginate, having a wider, brighter edge than the older 'Golden Circle' 1837 - Herbert mentions sports and early cross-breeding of Pelargonium species, some of it accidental 1839 - Sweet's Hortus Brittanicus of this year mentions Geranium zonale minima but using his name of Ciconium pumilum, surely the same or similar to minimum. He covers four variations of Ciconium zonale (an early alternative name for Pelargonium zonale) includng 1) lilacinum (lilac-colored), 2) coccineum (scarlet), 3) crystallinum (coral-stalked), and 4) margined (white-edged). He also covers C. fothergillii which today would be called P. zonale 'Fothergillii', likely an early parent of modern Zonals. The Fothergill Geranium came in two forms: 1) coccineum (scarlet) and 2) purpureum (purple) so it was never a single clone. c. 1840 - Nosegay Group varieties begin to come from England courtesy of Donald Beaton, these have very narrow petals and very large heads of flowers. 'Fothergillii' is one sort known then and thought to be a parent of them; scarlet red of course. They may date many decades before this date.