What Is A Geranium & What Is A Pelargonium?

From Douentza Garden in Wexford, Ireland. This is a video on the difference between geraniums and pelargoniums.

Geraniums in order of appearance...
Geranium renardii
Geranium noid
Geranium magnificum
Geranium noid
Geranium x pratense 'Summer Skies'
Geranium psilostemon 'Patricia'
Geranium nodosum 'Svelte Lilac'
Geranium 'Ann Folkard'
Geranium palmatum

And please check out my book, Journal of an Irish Garden...

[emmitstewart]

my understanding is that the botanist who first described the african plant named it geranium and it was introduced and sold under that name and became popular, but then someone discovered that another botanist had used the name for a genus from North America first.  In botany when two plants are accidentally given the same name, the one that is published first keeps the name and a different name must be found for the other one.  Since Geranium is derived from the Latin word geranos meaning crane because of its seed pods, and the african plant also had a similarly shaped seed pod, It was decided to name it after the stork, which is Pelargos in Latin.  So the Geranium is the crane flower and the Pelargonium is the stork flower.

[desertplantsofavalon]

Thanks so much for sharing the difference between the two :-) I always used to wonder what the difference was haha! but they are all so very beautiful :-) sending you heaps of love and tons of happiness from Waterford to Wexford and have a BRILLIANT weekend ahead

[marygorchidsmore]

You have a huge garden. I love that double geranium and the g.patrishia. They are such good plants for garden.Thanks for sharing.

[traceyleedogon]

I'm from South Africa and the variations in pelargonium colours and leaf shapes is staggering, but totally different to your geraniums. I've always called pelargoniums by their correct name, and am surprised at the confusion as they're SO different! Thanks for your beautiful video.

[sunshinesilverarrow]

Excellent video, this should have at least 1 million views 😉😄 Thank you for education your fellow plant lovers here on YouTube of this! ..nice to know I'm not alone doing this.. 😘 Have a beautiful Sunday. Hugs & sunshine 🌞 N

[lynnbrooks]

That may be, but I would so love to have an English country garden. I miss that so much.

[scandiplants]

Such a nice video, and very good point. I love pelargoniums the best though 😁🌺 I used to buy them as a plant but now I tried out some cuttings this year. Fun fun.

[WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

0:45 the peach pelargonium is so beautiful I can't even handle it haha. If you ever remember the name off hand I would much appreciate it! Thank you for the video.

[bumblebeesorchids]

Oh no! I just discovered that the plants that I used to call Geraniums were all Pelargoniums and that I don't know any Geraniums. I must continue to refer to them as Geraniums, because that's how everybody calls them here, but know I'm aware of the difference. The blueish Geraniums out in your garden were very much to my liking, beautiful! Thanks a lot for this informative video.

[nonononono]

Thanks so much for the information. I'm really interested in geraniums because I read that a compound in them repels some species of ticks, and I'm looking to the garden to fulfill my insecticide needs (without poisoning my 'lil ones in the process). Pardon the verbosity.

[automedicine]

Thanks for the education, videos like these should be more appreciated

[OldGardenerGuy]

I once had a very small clump forming geranium called *BALLERINA* The petals were a veiny pink. In Finland the only one I can get to grow year in year out is the blue cranesbill. I suppose it is called that because the seed pod look like the beak of a bird.

[orchidsadutchy]

This was interesting. I have sometimes seen other plants sold by the wrong names, but I don't remember having seen pelargoniums mislabeled as geraniums. I will try to remember it the next time I visit a garden center.

[mohannadalmadanie]

thanks a lot for listing names
all of them are gorgeous

[janiepowell]

Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate your help.

[cristinamihaela]

Heavenly garden.just love it 😍😍😍😍😍😍💖💖💖💖💖

[FrugalHomesteading]

_Your garden is very beautiful thank you for sharing very nice_ good to know :-) God bless 🌷🌵💕

[miche]

Thank you for explaining the difference, I was really confused ... However the geraniums here in the States look very different from the ones on your video ... Thank you for the info...

[pawelmatus]

Thank you so much for this video! Now I can stump my so called Canadian garden centre pros with "that's a nice Pelargonium and not Geranium". Ha, what a riot!!

[Nhojneirbo]

So far so good with the palmatum have you tried the other Madeira native G. maderense ? That is if you've got a square meter of space free!