SCENTED-LEAFED GERANIUMS: HOW IT GROWS BETTER

They do have various culinary uses, too, which are decorative as well as unusual. Try several perfect leaves of the lemon- or rose-scented variety bruised gently with the fingers to release their fragrance, in individual glass or crystal finger bowls for a very special dinner or reception. Place pats of butter on a bed of the leaves. For everyday use, put a leaf of the peppermint, lemon, rose or lime geranium on the bottom of the greased pan before baking a wholemeal teacake or a tray of muffins. Add one or two leaves to jellies and milk puddings. Egg custard can benefit too. Crush a large handful of the leaves, place them in the bath, run the hot tap first, swishing the leaves about in the water, then add the cold water, and yourself.

Geranium leaves can be used very effectively in flower arranging too. They harmonize well with formal blooms like rose-buds, gladioli florets and flowering bulbs. Add them to a float bowl of pansies, or any beautiful but unscented flower. Bruise the leaves, so that they can release their perfume.

Insect pests do not relish the strongly scented geranium leaves, and will not attack them, so give these plants plenty of your allotted garden space for herbs, and put some in the border or street planting strip, too. Rockeries and sunny corners suit them well, and you will soon have thick healthy clumps. The flowers are all rather inconspicuous, the main value of the plant being in its hardiness and ground-covering ability, together with its perfume, of course.