No thank you! Would have been my response if you had offered me coloured leaved pelargoniums, (aka geraniums or pellys), when I was younger. Well to most anyway. I have had a soft spot for trailing ivy-leaved ‘L’Élégante’ (shown above), for a long time.
Now, I appreciate some of the history that goes with them and the gardening times they reflect.
Pelargoniums from the top: Mrs Pollock, Dolly Varden, Chelsea Gem, Mrs Mappin, Caroline Schmidt, Princess Alexandra, Distinction, A Happy Thought, Elmsett.
Dolly Varden 1883
What is the connection between a pelargonium, Charles Dickens and a trout? Dolly Varden.
Dolly is described by Dickens in his novel Barnaby Rudge, published in 1838, as a pretty, coquettish girl, with a habit of blushing.
William Frith’s 1842 ‘fancy portrait’, imagining of Dolly Varden, (left), shows a cheerful ‘country maid’ in clothing of the late 18th century.
A Dolly Varden craze took-off in the UK and USA, primarily between 1865 – 1875, (Dickens died in 1870). Elements of her retro clothing style were adopted, and the name applied to many products, including a cough elixir and a horseshoe, and given to a species of red bellied trout found in North America.
The pelargonium has a rouged line around its leaves which I presume suggested the ‘blushing bloom’ that was Dolly Varden. The Cannel’s of Swanley Nursey catalogue of 1883 lists it, calling the red ‘glaring’, (the pelargonium register suggests a date of 1884), also later than the main ‘craze’. There is an earlier ivy-leaved pelargonium called ‘Dolly Varden’, (Vick’s Nursery Catalogue, US 1878), which was also available in the UK. ‘The name Dolly Varden was also applied to a US-bred sweet pea, a coleus and a carnation.
Mrs Pollock 1858 Grieve
‘Mrs Pollock’ was one of the most vaunted of the golden-leaved pelargoniums, Golden Tricolors, in its time. Peter Grieve who introduced ‘Mrs Pollock’, published ‘A history of ornamental-foliaged pelargoniums‘ in 1869. “This variety is too well known to require description; it is, however, entitled to consideration on account of being the earliest introduction of this now popular race of ornamental plants.
It is still regarded as a first-class bedding plant, and is worthy of a place in the most select collections.”
I have come to a confusion of Pollocks in looking for ‘Mrs Pollock’. They were a leading UK family of lawyers and politicians, and included a famous Field Marshal, the gentlemen often have similar fore names. According to Wiki, Sir (Jonathan) Frederick Pollock, 1st Bt 1783-1870 had two wives and 24 children. Sir Frederik was interested in plants and had corresponded with Charles Darwin about a variegated ballota in 1863.
The pelargonium may have been named after his second wife, Sarah Anne Anowah née Langslow. This photograph of Lady Pollock (right) was taken in 1865
Source: The National Portrait Gallery, London
There may also be a tentative link to Dickens, some sources have suggested ‘Mrs Pollock’ was his favourite pelly.
Next project – finding ‘Mrs Mappin’, the changing names of ‘Caroline Schmidt’, and which ‘Princess Alexandra’?
In the UK various RHS locations hold national collections of pelargoniums.
RHS Rosemoor – scented leaved and variegated zonal pelargoniums
UK specialist nurseries include: