Last edited on February 03, 2024. View history

Rose Geranium

Also known as rose geranium (en) old fashioned rose geranium (en) rose-scent geranium (en)

How to sow rose geranium: Direct seed indoors or transplant cuttings in early summer

Sun requirement for rose geranium: Plant in Full Sun

Rose Geranium is a perennial, evergreen, flowering shrub native to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. It is sometimes called Stork's Bills because of the shape of its fruit. Rose Geranium is grown for its foliage, from which geranium essential oil is distilled. The oil is used in perfume and aromatherapy. Leaves are velvety and soft to the touch and the hermaphrodite flowers are pale pink to white. Leaves and flowers can have a strong rose scent or very little scent. Rose Geranium leaves can be added to salads, steeped into a tea, or used to flavor desserts, jams, vinegars, and pipe tobacco. The plant is frost-tender and cannot survive temperatures below -1.1°C. It can be grown in containers and brought indoors in cooler regions.

1: planting
0: harvests
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Rose geranium facts

Lifespan

Perennial living more than two years

Height × spread

150cm × 100cm

Crop cycle

0–0 days

FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

cloudy skies to clear skies

FAO EcoCrop

How members grow rose gerania

Sunniness

Planted from

Photos

Rose geranium crops

Photo by petersmithassagay via iNaturalist (Copyright petersmithassagay)

Where rose gerania grow

Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.

What people are saying about rose gerania

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Who's planted rose gerania

malissa Porch garden · Melbourne, Victoria

Rose geranium harvests

Nobody has harvested this crop yet.

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Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Pelargonium graveolens L'Her. ex Ait.

Family / Taxonomy	Magnoliopsida Dilleniidae Malvales Geraniaceae
Life form	herb
Life span	perennial
Habit	prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect
Optimal soil texture	medium
Optimal soil fertility	high
Optimal soil drainage	well (dry spells)

Licensed under CC-BY-4.0.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2025) ECOCROP, the crop ecological requirements database. Version 1. https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/ecocrop. Accessed through the CGIAR Climate Action Data Hub, https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/catalog/ecocrop_1/.

Learn more about rose gerania

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Rose Geranium