# Gardners: The Lovely Pinwheel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630 "2009-04-28T16:26:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/1 "2009-04-28T16:26:26Z")
I ordered a few of these [http://www.waysidegardens.com/gardening/PD/41823?cid=wem001183](http://www.waysidegardens.com/gardening/PD/41823?cid=wem001183) little geranium dudes. Does anyone have any experience with them? I think they’re positively adorable. Can this plant be split into two plants after it establishes itself? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/2 "2009-04-28T17:12:18Z")
Yes. In fact, all Geranium phaeum cultivars should be propagated by division because its seedlings are not guaranteed to come true. I don’t have any phaeums but I do have other geraniums. My garden is my cite. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/3 "2009-04-28T17:21:24Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > Yes. > > In fact, all Geranium phaeum cultivars should be propagated by division because its seedlings are not guaranteed to come true. I don’t have any phaeums but I do have other geraniums. My garden is my cite. 🙂 Thanks, Chez! I’ll probably give it three years before I take a knife to it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/4 "2009-04-28T17:41:27Z")
Pretty! I love “real” geraniums (as opposed to those pelargonium pretenders), and, like **Chez** , have 6 or 8 different varieties scattered around the garden. They’ll form nice big clumps – you can probably start chipping away at the edges of yours in less than three years. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/5 "2009-04-28T18:09:02Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Pretty! > > I love “real” geraniums (as opposed to those pelargonium pretenders), and, like **Chez** , have 6 or 8 different varieties scattered around the garden. They’ll form nice big clumps – you can probably start chipping away at the edges of yours in less than three years. Okay, tell me the difference between the real and the imposter geranium. I like gardening, but I don’t have any background on this stuff. I’m just a sucker for a pretty bloom! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/6 "2009-04-28T18:19:43Z")
The flower you buy at Home Depot or the grocery store to pot up and put around your patio is commonly called a geranium, but its botanical name is \*Pelargonium \*(and yes I do have to look that up every time). It’s an tender perennial usually grown as an annual – a very pretty plant, I have pots of them on my front steps every summer. They are “tender,” which means they won’t survive a hard freeze – but if you bring in the pots and put them in your south-facing guest room window, you can usually keep most of them alive over the winter, saving a good $10 in the spring. What you’ve got is a true _Geranium_ – that being its botanical name, as well as its common name. Fans usually call them “real geraniums” or “perennial geraniums” (even though pelargonium is also perennial, strictly speaking) – you can plant them directly in the garden and they’ll come back every year as far north as zone 4 or so. The catalogs also give “cranesbill” as a common name, though I’ve never actually heard that used IRL. (Why are pelargoniums called geraniums? Dunno – there’s some similarity in the shape of the leaves, though the pelargonium’s leaves are much fleshier.) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/7 "2009-04-28T18:25:46Z")
Thanks, Twicks! Can I put these pinwheels in a pot and expect them to come back? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/8 "2009-04-28T19:19:05Z")
Pot or ground, either way, they’re hardy suckers. (Make sure it’s a good pot, if you go that route – cheap plastic pots can’t stand up to being outdoors all winter.) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardners-the-lovely-pinwheel/494630/9 "2009-04-28T19:37:27Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Pot or ground, either way, they’re hardy suckers. (Make sure it’s a good pot, if you go that route – cheap plastic pots can’t stand up to being outdoors all winter.) I’ve got one of those heavy clay pots about 10 inches across. I’ll try that one!