Six months since sowing has yielded many seedlings which have grown to different sizes. The most promising ones were the zonals: I got beautifully-arranged saucer-like leaves some with and some without the zonal color. Some are about to flower and some have flowered in semi-double salmon flowers, tri-color paintbox single flower and single orange flowers. It was astonishing to see that 6 months were enough to bring them to the size and flowering habit we see in commerce. All those hybrids were the product of seeds from my own collection.

The Regals, on the other hand, were disappointing. To take further measures, I did a purchase of Regals with the sought-after foliage and flower, but first I will talk about the problem I faced. In a previous post, I noted that I had them growing into a disordered form, as if the branches have been lumped together. My original question is here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3703390/growth-form-anomaly-disease-or-bad-cultivation

I decided to give them more time, trim and fertilize them and let them grow.

I have finally rested my case concerning the growth anomaly, and concluded there was no disease. The Regals simply displayed a different growth habit. On the other hand, their growth was poor compared to the zonals. They barely fill their pots and they show uniformity in their foliage. Up to now, just one has flowered scarcely, and the flowers were the wild-looking ones. Their branches were tall and spindly, but will they eventually grow thick enough, or did I pickup the wrong plants to cross-pollinate?

One hybrid, though, is more to my taste, but it has yet to flower. The leaves are very large, deeply lobed and heavily lemon-scented. The leaves are rough like those of its seed parent. The row of Pelargoniums (On the left side) comprises 5 of them: The four zonals and the scented Regal just behind the bamboo stick. If you're interested, I will add individual pictures with close-up.