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'Geranium'

Dear Karen,
Thanks for your reply, yours is the first message I’ve had.  Sounds as if
we have the same sort of climate.
I find that my ‘geraniums don’t do very well in the garden, specially the
newer more delicate varieties.  The rain in winter makes them too damp and
in the summer my reticulated sprinkler system finishes them off. So I
prefer to have them under shelter and in pots.
At our G&P Society we have monthly competitions for blooms as well as
plants, so keeping them sheltered  helps keep them nice and undamaged.
You said that your main interest is mums ... not sure what you mean.  I
thought it meant your Mums plants at first ??     I got my interest from my
Mum as I said in my first letter.
The ones I grow are ZONAL Pelargoniums to give them their correct name.
They have the rounded leaf,  what we know as common ‘geraniums’ which
flower most of the year.    The regals , REGAL Pelargoniums have a much
different leaf and only flower around springtime.  I believe in America
they are also called Martha Washingtons.  They are not species, that
classification is for the original plants found in the wild which a lot of
our Pelargoniums have been bred from.   ZONALS are so called, after one of
their parents, the species, Pelargonium ZONALE,  found in southern Africa
(as are most of the species).   Zonale has a distinct dark zone around the
leaf, which has been inherited by some (not all) of theZonals.     I
Believe the Regals were so named because they were very popular in Queen
Victoria’s time and were a favourite of hers.  Angels come under the Regal
classification. That’s the best I can describe about  the differences,  not
being an ‘expert’! 
The coloured leafs are mostly Zonals.  I wonder which ones you have.  Henry
Cox is my favourite.
I only had a passing interest in ‘geraniums’ when I joined our Society, but
it has become an addiction.  We are allowed to sell up to 30 plants each at
our meetings, which helps to pay for the potting mix etc.  We have a very
big show every October.  That is our state championships, where we sell as
well.  we also put on shows at various venues , mostly around Springtime,
which here is September/October.
In October 1996 a group of us went over to Melbourne Victoria  (3 000 Kms
away) to the International Conference. People came from all over the world,
including U.S.A.  Of course there were lots of new varieties on show, which
we just HAD to get.
LATER .. just got your last message.   I get my partner to send all my
stuff on his work computer, he brings my mail home on disc of an evening,
so there is a bit of a delay.  I hope to get on the ‘net’ myself but it is
still very expensive here.  I don’t recognise the names you mentioned,
except maybe one is LARA Delight?? If so it is an Australian one bred by
our Cliff Blackman at Lara ,Victoria.
Yes you could scan some leaves if you like. It may be hard to tell what
they are, I would need to know the colour of their flowers as well.  I have
just traded  the old hand held scanner for a flatbed, but it’s not working
properly.  Hope to get it going next week,  then I may be able to
experiment at sending pics etc..  I am in a Geranium discussion group
(IGSROBIN)and we  are about to try sending one another jpeg files.  I have
a lot of photos of my flowers. I have recieved one lot of photos from
U.S.A. so I know I can receive them.
    Bed time!

  Happy geraniuming!
  from Joan Steele
   Western Australia
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