Underwhelmed by old-fashioned geraniums? Take a fresh look at "interspecific geraniums," a new type that combines the best traits of two older but flawed types.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the geranium was a novel and beloved plant. Thomas Jefferson took some to the White House. By the end of the century, people were sick of it.

If your annual flowers aren’t exploding with celebratory fireworks of color right now, it may be lack of fertilizer.

Red varieties like the ' Geranium Calliope ® Medium Dark Red ' are great for landscape gardening or planting in a hanging basket.

He thinks he has achieved that “especially with Calliope Dark Red. It’s a variety you can recognize from a quite a distance.” ...

He thinks he has achieved that “especially with Calliope Dark Red. It’s a variety you can recognize from a quite a distance.” ...

Geranium Big Red (Calliope Dark Red) is the eye-catching geranium with huge, true red blooms and deep green leaves that has been selling out in nurseries and garden centers all over the region.

Whether in containers on your patio, pots on your table or brightening a summer flower bed, red, white and blue blooms offer a burst of July 4th spirit.

A geraniums called Calliope are deep red. Courtesy photo The first week of July is when annual flowers should be exploding with celebratory fireworks of color.

Solera Dark Red is the newest addition to a series which includes seven colours in total. This medium-sized mounded geranium with large double flowers has a height and spread of 30 to 36 centimetres.

Calliope garnered all of its attention from Dark Red but is now also available in Scarlet Fire. Let me qualify some of these glowing compliments.