I love geraniums. They’re beautiful, easy to grow, withstand almost anything from drought to cool temperatures, and hummingbirds love them. And they’re cheap. Lowe’s had regular geraniums on sale for $1 a piece last weekend. What’s not to love about that?
Some people dislike geraniums for the strong scent from their leaves. The scent is caused by geraniosol, a chemical exuded by the plant, and I think you either love it or hate it. My husband hates the smell. I love it because it reminds me of the window boxes on our dining room windows when I was a kid in Floral Park. It’s strong, all right, and if you get the smell on your hands be prepared to keep smelling it for a while no matter how much you wash.
Scented geraniums are another story altogether. Their leaves smell like lemon, orange, apples, you name it and someone has hybridized it. I had my White Flower Farm gift certificate from my sister to spend. I bought my Bloomerang Lilac but had a few bucks left over, so I browsed the site to see what I could buy. Ah! Scented geraniums! I’d always wanted one. My choices were limited to two, so I added an apple scented one to the order.
Well it came. And into the flower garden it went. But I’m not going to be sniffing it any time soon. To my nose, the leaves smell like a horrid cross between Raid bug killer and Vicks Vapo Rub. Shudder. This scent is not conjuring up images of barrels of red cheeked apples, that’s for sure. Maybe it’s my nose. The flowers are small, pink and dainty and the leaves quite interesting too. But my husband keeps pointing to it and asking, “Is that a weed?” And I keep having to explain, “No, that’s my scented geranium…” which necessitates a touch of the leaves and the accompanying exclamation of disgust. It’s like I have a really unique conversation piece, only it’s not the conversation you want to have in the garden….
What do you think of scented geraniums?
