Summer Is Malvarosa Time!

Last summer, I bought a Malvarosa.  It was a wonderful herb.  It was very fragrant and grew steadily without me noticing and with minimal care.  So I figured the Malvarosa was a low maintenance plant.  And it's true...in summer.  When the rains came, my repotted Malvarosa (now a big plant) went through all sorts of struggles.   I bought a couple of new ones a few months later, but none of them thrived like my first one.  In fact, the Malvarosa mortailty rate went up to about 75%. 

A few weeks ago, I bought new little Malvarosa plants.  And now they seem to be thriving again.  My guess is that having the leaves wet kills the plant one fragrant leaf at a time.  So these days, whenever I water the plant, I try to make sure that I water from the base and I do so in the morning so that the leaves have a chance to dry up before nightfall.

In a few weeks, I'll make my second attempt to propagate my new Malvarosa plants.  Hopefully, they'll be notably bigger in an a couple of weeks.   I want the make the best of this while summer is still on its way. Wish me luck!

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Malvarosa Propagation: The Experience

My Malvarosa has gone through a lot of changes.  First it really outgrew its small pot.  Then it started struggling after I moved it to a bigger pot, I think partly because of the incessant rains last month.  In fact, I ended up moving it back to a smaller pot.  And even then I saw that it had less roots remaining.  I've also tried propagating it several times.  First I took a couple of Malvarosa stalks and tried rooting them in water.  They survived a good week but eventually rotted.  Then since the main Malvarosa plant was big enough, I cut a big stem and placed it in good soil.  Within a week, it dried up even though I watered it regularly.  So now I'm not sure how to propagate it.  After all, most of the readings say stem cutting works. Maybe next time I'll try main stem cutting in water.  I hope that works.  But first, my main plant has to survive.  It doesn't look so good these days.  Wish me luck!

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Malvarosa and La Niña

No, that's not the title of the newest telenovela. My big Malvarosa reflects what all my other plants are experiencing: heavy downpour.  Summer is truly over.  It's been over a week since I watered anything in my garden.   Look at my poor Malvarosa.  It looks "unruly".  You know why?  I saw it yesterday and it looked like the plant tipped over.  The downpour must have displaced it.  That's how my other plants look too.  It's like a disaster area in my garden.

I'm pretty sure they'll recover, but most of the pots have been getting flooded on a regular basis. So now my Malvarosa has some chopstick support (I collect those from Japanese restaurants since I don't use them).  I'll probably get a cutting within the week so that the plant isn't too heavy.  I'll also put the plant away from the rain so it has a chance to dry up first.  My Basil, Lavender and Rosemary have been out of rain's harm for about a week now and they're still wet! Tsk.

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Repotting my Giant Malvarosa

I bought my little Malvarosa just over a month ago.   It's a lot younger than my mints or my petunias.  I haven't really pruned it though since I was waiting for it to grow bigger before I started experimenting.  Then yesterday, I just noticed how extremely oversized it was for its pot.  And so I moved it to a much bigger pot.  Yet, it still looks oversized.  Apparently, it grew a lot (almost doubled I think) right under my nose.   I didn't really do a lot with it.  It just grew with a little water and fertilizer now and then.

On the side, I've also been trying to propagate it.  I took one of the little stalks and I left it in water.  After a week, the stalk was still fresh, but there's no sign of any rooting.  It's like my hydrangea cutting that's been in water for almost a month: also fresh but devoid of roots.  Weird, huh?  I think for my Malvarosa, I'll let it adjust to the new pot for a week or so, then I'll give it a major pruning experience and see if I can grow stem cuttings in soil.

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Malvarosa Benefits, Uses, Cultivation, and Propagation

It's been almost two weeks since I got my Malvarosa (Pelargonium Graveolens).  I think it has grown by a couple of inches.  So I figured it was time to do my research on it.    It's also called Rose Pelargonium of Geranium and is best known for its fragrance.  The essential oil is harvested in commercial quantities and is used for perfume.   What I didn't realize when I bought it was that it's a flowering plant.  I saw pink flowers when I was researching it on the Internet, although I also read that it only flowers in June and July (but that's in the US.  I'm not sure when it would bloom here)  Without further ado, here are some interesting Malvarosa tidbits: