Pelargonium 'Chocolate Twist' (St/C) | geranium 'Chocolate Twist'

RHS / Joanna Kossak

Bedding Conservatory Greenhouse

A bushy, tender, evergreen perennial to 50cm tall and wide with rounded and lobed leaves that are a dark reddish-brown with a green margin. Single orange-red flowers are borne in clusters from summer into autumn

Position

Full sun

Soil Types

Loam

Max Height

0.1-0.5 metres

Max Spread

0.1-0.5 metres

Size

Time to Maturity: 1–2 years
Max Spread: 0.1-0.5 metres
Max Height: 0.1-0.5 metres

Growing Conditions

Loam

Moisture: Well–drained
pH: Alkaline or Neutral

Position

Full sun

Aspect: West–facing or East–facing or South–facing
Exposure: Sheltered
Hardiness

Hardiness Ratings

All ratings refer to the UK growing conditions unless otherwise stated. Minimum temperature ranges (in degrees C) are shown in brackets

H1A: under glass all year (>15C)
H1B: can be grown outside in the summer (10 - 15)
H1C: can be grown outside in the summer (5 - 10)
H2: tolerant of low temperatures, but not surviving being frozen (1 to 5)
H3: hardy in coastal and relatively mild parts of the UK (-5 to 1)
H4: hardy through most of the UK (-10 to -5)
H5: hardy in most places throughout the UK even in severe winters (-15 to -10)
H6: hardy in all of UK and northern Europe (-20 to -15)
H7: hardy in the severest European continental climates (< -20): H1C

Colour & Scent

Season	Stem	Flower	Foliage	Fruit
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

Botanical Details

Family: Geraniaceae
Native to GB/Ireland: No
Foliage: Evergreen
Habit: Bushy
Genus: Pelargonium can be perennials, sub-shrubs or shrubs, sometimes succulent and mostly evergreen, with palmately lobed or pinnately divided leaves and clusters of slightly irregular, 5-petalled flowers
Name Status: Unresolved
Horticultural Group

Horticultural Classification Codes

Horticultural Classification Codes are often given to genera which have a large number of species or cultivars. They are used to categorise cultivated plants based on specific, shared characteristics such as shape, colour, size or flowering time, and can be displayed as letters or numbers

For example:
Dahlia ‘Sunset Kate (Sin) = Single flower
Rosa ‘Marigold’ (HT) = Hybrid Tea: Stellar pelargoniums are compact Zonal types, with small leaves with pointed lobes, and star-shaped single or double flowers

How to Grow

Cultivation

Requires frost-free conditions and good light. Feed plants with a high potassium fertiliser during the growing season to promote flowering. See pelargonium cultivation

Propagation

Propagate by softwood cuttings of non-flowering shoots in spring or summer

Suggested planting locations and garden types

City and courtyard gardens
Patio and container plants
Mediterranean climate plants
Flower borders and beds

Pruning

Deadhead regularly. Cut back hard if overwintering old plants indoors

Pests

May be susceptible to glasshouse pests such as aphids and glasshouse whitefly in spring

Diseases

May be susceptible to grey moulds, pelargonium rust and Pelargonium viruses