An Artist's Palette

An Artist's Palette



When a plant collector designs with plants, they undoubtedly become artists despite having more horticultural roots. Colour, contrast, texture, height, form, rhythm, harmony...these are all elements of landscape design that hold just as much worth when growing a prize winning pelargonium. You can look at the artistic side of growing in many ways; pot-scaping, landscaping, flower arranging, and even plant breeding. And when art can live and grow around us, our eyes become the windows or picture frames into the botanical world around us.

　

If you plan your planters wise you will try to choose complementary plants that work with each other. Having a miniature nestled in amongst a couple of large growing geraniums is both cruel and wasteful. Unless you have a collection of miniatures, leave them in their own pots, but these can be arranged on your decks, patios & porches to establish a larger harmonic theme for a particular area. The most obvious important factor when planting several specimens in one larger planter is colour choice. Complimentary colour schemes work, but so does the use of contrast, accenting, or the very bold monochromatic block method. As ivy pelargoniums, balcans and frutoreums all cascade, do not forget about maximizing the impact of your pots with these varieties that will bring vertical depth and dimension. For those afraid to plant their treasures into a larger pot with others, live dangerously. You will be amazed what happens to most specimens once given space and company. Crazy? No...plants communicate with each other and pelargoniums to the large part help each other grow rather than hinder.



Landscaping is when we change our outdoor space to suit our needs better. I should hope we all are doing this! However, landscaping is something that ironically get's people more interested in plants, but unfortunately often suffers the neglect once people become obsessed with collecting them. I encourage you all to incorporate pelargoniums into your gardens. Take the extra straggly old stock plants and let them have one last display in your gardens. The colours will astound you. Even the potting soil will help amend the surrounding area once the frost hits. Some pelargoniums turn into shrub sized explosions of blooms once in the ground, so spice up your space and help showcase the versatility of these plants. Also consider hanging several pots on your fences to maximize those vertical spaces. Think 3D people!


If you have never used pelargoniums as cut flowers you are missing out. While the blooms may not last a very long time, the rosebuds in particular are gorgeous when arranged in a vase. With a little creativity and extra flower buds, you can make a gift for somebody that is both beautiful and low cost. Artists have been painting flowers seemingly forever, so design a masterpiece and take a picture, share it with a friend, or better yet, enter a cut display at this summer's show. I always find it interesting how our club members arrange and display their flowers. This may also be a good way to contribute if your plant is not the best shape, or has foliage challenges...snap off the flowers and get arranging!



When I suggest that the science of breeding new varieties has something to do with art, at first thought it very well may sound peculiar. But every breeder has "missions" which ultimately come down to characteristics that they hope to accomplish in the progeny. That is, there is a "painting in their heads" before they begin the pollination process. I prefer certain colours, flower forms, heights, leaf colours, just to name a few. I often make new plants that have nothing to do with my initial aspirations. But the surprise beauties are what keeps me going when hybridizing. Sometimes a masterpiece is created by accident (not unlike some of us!), and it is our background in art that allows us to analyze, articulate and even critique the new specimens. As many of you know I am trying to built up a large collection of varieties not only for preservation, but also for breeding stock. And for those that may wonder why I keep accumulating more, consider this: If an artist was asked to create a painting without the colour blue, would they not be limited in their vision? Every plant carries with it thousands of genes (bundles of DNA) that are the powerful things that create diversity of characteristics. It may take a hundred years to breed another blue gene, so we must not lose what great hybridizers of the past have given us. Now that being said, in the pelargonium would we have no blue paint gene...yet! Or did we, and it was lost?