Geraniums

I used to have a collection of unusual Geraniums. My husband had someone build a lath house for them and I was thrilled with all the odd flowering geraniums I found to buy. Surprisingly, they were ordered from Kansas. I thought that was so amazing, I live in California and had to send to Kansas for Geraniums. I still have the 1976-77 catalog from Cook's Geranium Nursery in Lyons, Kansas. Wish I could still order from it. Last time I tried, years ago, I had returned mail. I have several books on the subject, my two favorites are "The Joy of Geraniums" by Helen Van Pelt Wilson and "All About Geraniums" by Peggie Schulz. Both out of print. So, I ordered a new Geranium book today, just to see what's new.
The variegated ivy-leaf Geranium with the white flower in the first picture is L'Elegante, from Kansas. One year I entered it in the Merced County Fair and got a Blue Ribbon. It was so pretty. They had it on a tall post and the long stems hung down with one little white flower on it. I don't remember the names of the orange and red flowered Geraniums.
The next picture is Mr. Wren, the flowers look like someone brushed red paint on the white petals. Very pretty, but a bit stingy with the flowers. The white one is "Noel" a cactus flowered Geranium.
The bottom picture is "Rouletta." The first time I saw that Ivy Geranium was in San Jose. A couple of friends went with me to Santa Cruz to watch the Marching 100 Band play in competition. My daughter was in it. After the parade, we looked up this Geranium Nursery in San Jose that I saw advertised in the little magazine that the International Geranium Society publishes. We bought a few plants from him, but the large beautiful Rouletta was not for sale. He only had the one plant. Later, he was selling all his Geraniums and my husband delighted in telling everyone who would listen that we drove all the way to San Jose and paid big money for Rouletta. It was my Mother's Day present and I loved it. This was in 1977. Now you can find Rouletta look-alikes quite often. Rouletta is a sport off of Mexican Beauty. Sometimes it will (or did) revert back to the plain dark red flowers.
I had many other favorites; the Stellars from Australia; the Phlox type; Bird's Egg with the tiny speckles; Tulip Flowered and the Painted Lady types. I had one called "Valentine" with pretty valentine shaped leaves and salmon-colored flowers. I had a few scented ones, "Mable Grey" was the strongest lemon scented one I've ever seen. If anyone knows where these unusual Geraniums can be ordered, please email me at CalifNative37@aol.com Thanks!! See more Geraniums at flickr.