Pelargonium 'Happy Thought' (Z/v) | geranium 'Happy Thought'

Dorling Kindersley 2003

Synonyms

Pelargonium 'A Happy Thought'
Pelargonium × hortorum 'Red Happy Thought'

Bedding Houseplants

'Happy Thought' is a bushy plant to 30cm in height, with rounded leaves blotched centrally with yellow, and clusters of single, light crimson flowers

Position

Full sun, Partial shade

Soil Types

Loam, Sand

Max Height

0.1-0.5 metres

Max Spread

0.1-0.5 metres

Size

Time to Maturity: 2–5 years
Max Spread: 0.1-0.5 metres
Max Height: 0.1-0.5 metres

Growing Conditions

Loam Sand

Moisture: Well–drained
pH: Acid or Alkaline or Neutral

Position

Full sun Partial shade

Aspect: West–facing or East–facing
Exposure: Exposed or 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: Accepted
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: Zonal pelargoniums are bushy evergreen perennials with fleshy stems, rounded, palmately lobed leaves often zoned with maroon, and single or double flowers in shades of purple, red, pink, orange and white, from early to late summer

How to Grow

Cultivation

Grow in fertile well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Remove spent flowers. To overwinter, grow small plants in late summer from cuttings or cut back old plants by one third and lift for storage in frost-free place to repot in spring when growth resumes. See Pelargonium cultivation for further advice.

Propagation

Take softwood cuttings in summer and overwinter plants in frost free conditions or take softwood cuttings in spring

Suggested planting locations and garden types

Patio and container plants
City and courtyard gardens
Coastal
Cottage and informal garden
Flower borders and beds

Pruning

Deadhead regularly

Pests

May be susceptible to vine weevil, leafhoppers, caterpillars, thrips, fungus gnats and aphids

Diseases

May be susceptible to foot and root rots in wet soils, grey moulds, pelargonium rust and and a virus