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| Photo Credit: Hobbs Farm |
| A container of ivy geraniums makes a wonderful garden accent. |
The year 1700 was an interesting one in history. Men in England began wearing suspenders to hold up their trousers, the French landscape gardener Andre Le Notre (who designed Versailles) died, and the first four coffeehouses in Vienna, Austria, opened. But perhaps most importantly (at least when it comes to geraniums) is the fact that Willem Adriaan van der Stel introduced the first ivy geranium to the Netherlands. Known botanically as Pelargonium peltatum, this beauty was a well-kept secret! It wasn’t until 74 years later that the ivy geranium finally made it to the gardens of Great Britain and then eventually traveled on to the American colonies.
Since it’s introduction 300 years ago, the ivy-leafed geranium has developed into quite a beautiful body of plants with at least 75 commercial cultivars. There are so many wonderful and unique options available now, chances are there’s an ivy geranium with the right foliage, size or bloom color just waiting for you to pot up and put on display! | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Fir Trees Nursery | | You can find ivy geranium blooms in an amazing array of colors – some even with stripey accents! |
With so many to choose from, it’s not surprising that nursery professionals have developed different types of ivy geraniums with unique characteristics. Alpine balcony geraniums are a popular favorite, often used in as a window box plant in Europe – and with good reason: They’re extremely hardy and very showy with scads of flowers in pinks, lavender and scarlet.
There are predominately three kinds of alpine ivy: the Balcon Series (with a long, trailing habit that grows to 4 feet in one season), the Intermediate Cascade Series (which grows about 3 feet in a season) and the Mini-Cascade Series (which gets about 2 feet long in a season). No matter which you choose, these beauties make terrific additions to window boxes and container plantings that need an eye-catcher to spill over the edges. They can really fill out a hanging basket, too – just make sure the water drains freely out of the bottom of the container.
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