Growing Miniatures & Dwarf Pelargoniums

By.....Arthur Boggis

In the Middle of the 1850’s, a coal miner who lived in Derbyshire who was a great enthusiast of Pelargoniums,planted his garden in late May. He was then struck down by the dreadful lung disease silicosis. He then had to spend the next few months in his bed, fighting the illness. It wasn’t till mid September that he was able to get out and look around his garden, which had suffered badly due to neglect and the effects a dry hot summer. Many of his plants had died, either through lack of water, or burning up through continuous hot sun. Looking at what was left of his pelargoniums, he was mystified about one plant. Normally a bright red zonal with very dark green leaves.This plant he found had shrunk to a small size, but still seemed to be thriving. He took cuttings of this plant for the next season. He showed these to a friend, a local nursery owner, and they decided to grow as many as they could for the next year. They gave the plants the name Red Black Vesuvius, and they went on sale to the public for the first time in 1858. This was the birth of the first miniature. Red Black Vesuvius is still seen on the show bench to-day and wins prizes. Since 1858 many new varieties of miniatures have been bred. The probable cause of a plant to mutate in this way is an apparent genetic change which takes place due to extreme stress in some plants. Some years ago Mr. Frank Read of Norfolk, a well known breeder of many famous varieties, had some rooted
cuttings sent by a business associate in America. These were sent by parcel post. They took about three weeks to arrive, and when the parcel was opened only two had survived they journey, and both were in a very poor condition.After a struggle they survived and produced two healthy plants. One of these plants was very tiny, and just never seemed to grow. After a while it flowered and Mr. Read used the pollen from it to cross with a full size zonal. The resultant hybrid seeds produced more small sized plants. It was found that whatever plants were crossed with the original small plant they always produced small offspring’s. These all later became known as the famous Norfolk Dwarfs. Miniatures were crossed with full size zonals and then the half way size plants were produced which are now known
as Dwarfs. The size of pot and height of the foliage of miniatures and dwarfs are laid down in the pelargonium rules for showing. To grow a good miniature or dwarf for showing it is advisable take your cuttings in May, root them, then grow them on until the end of August, when you cut them back to about half their total height.After they have recovered from being cut down, put them in the final pot size they need for showing. Give good light and encourage them to grow slowly. Spray them with Nimrod T the Systemic Fungicide as a protection against botrytis and other fungal diseases. In the spring make sure the plants grow into a nice even shape, and pinch out until sometime in March. Pick the flower buds off until about ten weeks before the show date, and then three weeks before showing, pick off all fully
open florets to encourage the buds to all open at the same time. These times need experimenting with to produce the best results. A really hot spell of weather can ruin your plants by making the flowers open early before the day of the show. Conversely a prolonged cold spell just before the show, might mean the flowers have not reached fully opened for the show. This can sometimes be overcome by putting a 100 watt MTF (Mercury Vapour grow bulb), over the plants for four to five hours a night to bring the plants forward.