African Garden + time

Geraniums* for Fall Foliage Color

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After I posted a shot of the above seedling Geranium, Scott, of Rhone Street Gardens, asked what was the best Geranium for fall foliage color. I will now answer that question in my best lawyerly fashion: it depends.

If you like orange, it's hard to beat Geranium 'Bob's Blunder'.

The dark espresso leaves turn a warm orange.

Another good orange is the foliage of Geranium macrorrhizum.

But as can be seen from the photo, there's a lot of yellow in there too.

The foliage of Geranium 'Blogold' (Blue Sunrise) is chartreuse for most of the growing season, but in autumn, it turns bright yellow and red.

autumnal tones of Geranium 'Blogold' (Blue Sunrise)

It's still blooming.

Its cousin Rozanne (Geranium 'Gerwat') displays four colors at once, the fading green, yellow, orange and red.

Geranium 'Gerwat' (Rozanne) in full autumn color

But, as I told Scott at the time, the best, most consistently colorful Geranium for autumn foliage is the native G. maculatum.

Its red leaves shine like a beacon in the sunlight, and on cloudy days provides spots of interest among the dried, fallen leaves.

G. maculatum with the dried foliage of Smilacina racemosa a/k/a Maianthemum racemosum on October 22

Really, all of them are great for adding color to the autumn garden, and all of them are great garden plants.

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Here's a late addition.

It shows the difference between Geranium maculatum on the left and Geranium sylvaticum 'Mayflower' on the right.

*Pelargoniums, which are often called geraniums, are not related to any of the plants in this post and are not hardy here in Zone 5.