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Hybrid Geranium (Zonal pelargonium hybrid)

This is the most typical geranium around here, called a zonal hybrid. Pink or red flowers are common, but we prefer white. We have had it for about three years and it hasn’t become very big, but it blooms constantly without drying out. Should we transfer it to a bigger pot?

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Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens)

We bought it as a container herb, and we enjoy its rose-like fragrance. People say the fragrance is good for avoiding mosquitos. This is the only container herb that survived and grew well in the container. It is also easy to propagate from cuttings, so it is probably a very strong plant.

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Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)

It doesn’t always bloom well, but it survives the winter and has bloomed for three summers now. It’s a perennial plant in its original home, so it may be all right? It looks pale purple, but from the seeds we grew, it’s supposed to be blue. In 2000, we planted white and pale purple (should we call them blue?) ones in our garden, but they died in the winter.

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Passion Flower (Passiflora)

It made a good match with our garden conditions and has grown very well. Just after this flower blooms, the petals look like regular passion flowers, but later in the day they bend back like a badminton shuttlecock. We also have the typical passion flower (passiflora caerulea) but it looks so quiet after seeing this purple one.

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Gazania (Gazania splendens)

One of neighbours gave us some of these plants when she moved. This is a perennial and it is very strong. The only problem is that it keeps spreading out and hanging out of the flower bed.

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Meadow Sage (Salvia virgata)

This is from the garden across the street from our house. This is a strong perennial, and it is easy to propagate from cuttings. It seems strong for bugs, too. But we wonder what it is that sometimes munches (and severs) the stem from the bottom. Looking through them to the light, the flowers are a very clear deep blue.

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Gazania

This is an annual. It somehow survived, and only this orange flower bloomed this year from among the yellow, orange, and white ones we bought some years ago. A white one also bloomed once this year (2003) but afterward it came to be in very bad condition.

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Mealy-Cup Sage (Salvia farinacea)

In our plant book, it is supposed to be an annual, but it seems bigger now and bloomed more than last year. We also planted a white one, in a different place, but its condition was not so good. Does the flower colour relate to the plant’s hardiness?

Date posted: 2004-08-10