Geranium
Distributed for Reaktion Books
216 pages
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50 colorplates, 50 halftones
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5 1/2 x 8 1/2
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© 2013
They are sometimes called storksbills and originated in South Africa. They may be star-shaped or funnel-shaped, and they range in color from white, pink, and orange-red to fuchsia and deep purple. The geranium and its many species, much loved and also much loathed, have developed since the seventeenth century into one of the most popular garden plants. In this book, Kasia Boddy tells the story of geranium’s seemingly inexorable rise, unearthing the role it has played in everything from plant-hunting and commercial cultivation to alternative medicine, the philanthropic imagination, and changing styles in horticultural fashion.
Boddy shows how geraniums became the latest fad for wealthy collectors and enterprising nurserymen after they were first collected by Dutch plant-hunters on the sandy flats near present-day Cape Town. She explains that the flower would not be rare for long—scarlet hybrids were soon found on every cottage windowsill and in every park bedding display, and the backlash against the innocent plant followed quickly on the heels of its ubiquity. Today, geraniums can be found throughout the world, grown as annuals in the regions too cold for them to regenerate. In addition to exploring the history of geraniums, Boddy reveals the plant’s other uses, including how they are cultivated and distilled for their scents of citrus, mint, pine, rose, and various spices to use in perfumes. With their edible leaves, they are also used to flavor desserts, cakes, jellies, and teas, and some people believe that certain species provide an effective treatment for a cough.
Featuring over one hundred illustrations, Geranium shows how the plant is portrayed in painting, literature, film, and popular culture, and provides an intriguing example of the global industrialization of plant production.
Publisher's Weekly
“Boddy is at her best when describing the lowly plant’s cultural significance. . . . In a survey that weaves together the aesthetic theories of Goethe and Ruskin, the literary works of Dickens and T. S. Eliot, the paintings of Cézanne and the gardens of Monet, Boddy reminds us that complex meaning and history can be contained in the most common of garden flowers.”
Boston Globe
“Handsomely designed and beautifully written volumes on subjects you might not think you’re interested in. . . . The best thing about [Geranium] and Oak . . . is the focus on cultural history.”
Chicago Tribune
“Whether you’re a hard-core gardener or simply have a curiosity about plants, [these] two titles . . . are sure to command your attention. . . . Titles in the Botanical series combine accessible horticulture writing and a look at the plant’s cultural and social impact. The books are both scholarly and playful.”
Garden Illustrated
“Boddy’s writing is witty, deft, and elegant, her scholarship lightly worn, her trawl through literature, painting, film, and historical archive, packed with sharp insight. This modest book, through the medium of an unassuming plant, places gardening where it should be: a fundamental part of social history at the heart of our social, cultural, and imaginary life.”
Geraniums Online
“Do I need to say, I ignored all my other jobs and read the book from cover to cover over the next 24 hours? . . . As an in-depth study of the areas of British and American culture touched by the common red geranium, there is nothing to compare to this book. . . . Well-written, entertaining and enlightening.”
Contents
Introduction
1. Out of Africa
2. New Familiars
3. Bedding and Breeding
4. The Geranium in the Window
5. Brief Fall, then Inexorable Rise
Postscript
Timeline
References
Further Reading
Associations and Websites
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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Biological Sciences: Natural History
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