Geranium twang and ping
This is my little Geranium bohemicum (blue) which has been flowering all summer and is still going strong. It is a hardy biennial and unlike the usual strain this one is paler and more blue than purple. It is low growing (30cm/12″) and seeds very freely.
Geranium bohemicum (blue)
Note those words “seeds freely”. You can see the seed capsules in this picture.
Geranium bohemicum (blue)
It is the seed capsule that gives Geraniums their name. Geranos is the Greek word for Crane.
With a little imagination ….come on now…..is that a beak….of course it is!
Geranium bohemicum (blue), seed capsule
Here are the black seeds tucked together at the base of the “beak”. How do they make their bid for freedom?
Seeds
Well these are tightly wound, tense little seeds. Don’t let their calm exteriors fool you.
That “beak” holds the springs attached to each seed.
When the springs are ready to twang….
Seeds on a spring
The seeds ping….
Seeds ping
….one after the other until all five have escaped.
All five seeds spring to freedom
Of course they actually pinged all over the room and I had to crawl around until I found them.
If you see some ripe seeds in the garden gently squeeze the base and watch them shoot all over the place. Strangely satisfying :-)
9 comments
Glad you found all the seeds indeed! Funny thought you crawling around looking for the pinging seeds. Beautiful pictures of them.
I usualy just miss the twanging and pinging :( Such a marvelous mechanism.
eee! I have scented geraniums that unfortunately did not decide to bloom much this summer (maybe I won’t pot them up next year).
That is a beautiful geranium! So hard to find such a lovely color! Where did you purchase it/its seeds and as a biennial it only blooms its second year correct? It sounds as though you have had it for a while though so you get some nice blooms every year I suppose?
The springy flying seeds being cathartic reminds me of my mimosa plant, just fun playing with your plants :)
The seeds do sort of look like little sperm :/
it must be fun to see the seeds pop and I guess in nature, all these seeds must had sprouted in spaced distance.
Wonderful -I’d love to come across this! :) xxx
Isn’t nature clever!
My Geranium nodosum whiteleaf does that too – the seeds explode all over the garden and I’m always having to pull up little seedlings! I brought some in the other day and, like yours, they pinged all over the room.
Btw, you could try spraying the mildew on your Aster (I’m catching up with earlier posts here, sorry) once a week with a mixture of full fat milk and water (1 part milk to at least 9 parts water – more water if they’re only tiny). The fat in the milk works as a fungicide.
I love that you captured the lifecycle of the flowers and seeds in these photos! Fascinating. I like plants that seed themselves around, even if it does end up with some extra weeding chores. Seems hard to imagine such a sweet plant every being an unwelcome surprise.
What a sight! Thank you so much for sharing the complete cycle in pictures.
Reproduction in plants is an amazing miracle of life.
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