Chocolate geraniums from the Brocade series
The Geranium of the Year 2019 award goes to a geranium series called the Brocade Series with the varieties ‘Brocade Salmon Night’ and ‘Brocade Cherry Night’. Both varieties have foliage that is more black than green while blooming with full flowers in lovely color shades. Recently, interest in geraniums with interesting foliage and exciting structures has increased and for the choice of Geranium of the Year 2019, the foliage is as important as the flowering.
Attractive and chocolate-colored foliage
Geraniums are divided into different groups and the Brocade series are zonal geraniums that belong to the group of geraniums with decorative leaves. The Salmon Night and Cherry Night varieties both have rich, almost chocolate-colored leaves that add character. The leaves have a thin light green edge marking that encloses the almost black center circle and creates a lively contrast. The sunnier the geraniums are placed, the stronger and more intense the colors become. The attractive foliage is complemented by full flowers with a long flowering time, creating an interesting whole.
Beautiful outdoors as well as indoors
For the thrifty, it may be a good idea to remove the flowers and just enjoy the decorative and beautiful foliage of the geranium. The result is a sober and attractive geranium that looks great outdoors in quiet places alongside, for example, boxwood balls, ornamental grasses, hostas, lamb’s ears and soothing water mirrors. The flowers can instead be used for delicate bouquets, table decorations and other indoor decorations. They keep well in a vase for a couple of weeks.
High resolution images are available on the Blomsterfrämjandet website “
Two different color shades to choose from
Of course, anyone who loves color will leave the flowers on, and there are two different shades to choose from:
‘Brocade Salmon Night’ has well-filled flowers in a shimmering salmon-apricot pink tone. As the nights get cooler, the flower color deepens. The contrast between the soft flowers and the intense, dark color of the leaves is striking and the plant attracts attention. The variety is equally suited to modern environments as to more traditional ones. For example, the flowers and leaves stand out very well against whitewashed, concrete and brick walls, but they are equally at home in country-style red and sunny yellow-painted wooden houses.
‘Brocade Cherry Night’ has well-filled flowers in a bright cherry red color. As with Salmon Night, the flower color deepens as the nights get cooler and again the contrast between the flowers and foliage is marked.
THE JURY’S MOTIVATION:
The dark, sober chocolate brown leaves of the series create a deep drama in their simplicity, which appeals to those who are passionate about today’s modern, Nordic, stripped-down interior design style.
The delicious flowers lift you to completely new experiences, a pair of contrasting delights for the eye while the leaves tickle the taste buds for chocolate on the tongue.
A floral color for different style. One in tone with the interior design industry’s designated, Color of the Year – Living Coral, the other for the traditional choice in lovely cherry red.
The two selected are the Chocolate geraniums ‘Brocade Salmon Night and ‘Brocade Cherry Night’.
The jury for Geranium of the Year 2019 consisted of Jonas Samuelsson, Rönne Trädgård, representing the Swedish growers’ union LRF Trädgård/Prydnadsväxter, Klaus Thingholm, Syngenta, Lotta Ahlvar, trend analyst and project manager for Formex, Patrik Vilsmyr from Mäster Grön, representing 35 Swedish gardeners in collaboration.
Placement and care
The varieties work well both inside on the windowsill and as an outdoor plant. If you want to place geraniums indoors, we recommend a location with plenty of light. Further into the room it easily becomes too dark. Outside, they are beautiful both as solitary plants in pots, but also to be planted together with other summer flowers. The dark foliage emphasizes the flowers and foliage of other plants. It can be nice to co-plant ‘Brocade Cherry Night’ with bright white flowers from the snow thistle and ‘Brocade Salmon Night’ together with a hanging basket in similar color tones.
The more cautious will go for hanging plants such as slideranka, silver helleborine or ivy, and those who love color can mix with just about anything! It’s also nice to pick up the dark color of the leaves and, for example, co-plant with a dark-leaved alum root.
To do this:
When you get your geraniums home, they may need to be replanted. Look at the roots and see how they look. Choose a pot/box/pot with a good volume and a good quality soil. It is important to add nutrients to the soil, as geraniums develop best when they are well nourished. The easiest way to do this is to water with a weak nutrient solution at each watering.
– Water regularly, but always allow the soil to dry out slightly between waterings. It’s best to water geraniums in the morning so that they have time to dry out during the day. If this is not possible, watering them in the evening works well. Watering in the middle of the day is less suitable as much of the water evaporates immediately. Geraniums cope very well with drought, but they do not develop as well as when watered regularly.
– Geraniums love light and want to be in a bright and airy place. If you are planting several geraniums together, or planting geraniums together with other plants, be careful not to plant the plants too close together. They will grow together over time and will benefit from a little airiness at first. Always place geraniums in a bright position!
– Be diligent about pinching off wilted flowers, preferably before they set seed, although the seed pod itself is a beautiful and amusing decoration – it looks like a grosbeak. Geranium means big beak.
