scented geraniums, with well-sweep herb farm’s patrick mcduffee

PATRICK MCDUFFEE believes that everybody ought to have at the least one scented geranium on their windowsill year-round, for an on-demand invigorating whiff of perfume, or to admire its colourful flowers—or to make a homebrewed cup of natural tea from its leaves. Patrick is the third technology of his household to domesticate scented geraniums at Properly-Sweep Herb Farm in rural New Jersey, the place 80-something Pelargonium varieties are amongst some 2,000 completely different sorts of herb vegetation within the nursery’s superb assortment.

Properly-Sweep Herb Farm is a well-liked vacation spot nursery in Port Murray, N.J., based in 1969 by Cyrus and Louise Hyde, which at the moment has greater than 6 acres of themed gardens to discover. Patrick, who’s nursery supervisor, is certainly one of three generations of the prolonged Hyde household who proceed to carry Properly-Sweep to life, together with his grandmother and his uncle, David Hyde, who runs the enterprise.

Every backyard season Properly-Sweep hosts a few free, weekend-long festivals, with the subsequent one—its Fall Flower Competition and Craft Market—set for Aug. 30 and 31, with numerous skilled talks and excursions and extra, together with what Patrick is asking a “Scented Geranium Deep Dive” that’s he’s providing.

Learn alongside as you take heed to the Aug. 18, 2025 version of my public-radio present and podcast utilizing the participant beneath. You possibly can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here). (Photograph of Patrick McDuffee beneath by David Frant.)

scented geraniums, with patrick mcduffee

Margaret Roach: How is it on the market in herb world, Patrick [laughter]?

Patrick McDuffee: We’re experiencing a drought in the intervening time and watering as a lot as we will.

Margaret: Sure, it’s insanity. This has been a yr of challenges. Undoubtedly. Undoubtedly. Properly, I so loved working collectively on our latest “New York Occasions” backyard column that we did about Properly-Sweep and concerning the scented geraniums and so forth. The 80-something scented geraniums are like a group inside the larger assortment of the nursery. You may have deep teams of numerous different vegetation, too—there are different specialties.

Patrick: There’s 50 various kinds of mint and 60 various kinds of lavender. I’m simply guess-timating. There’s in all probability 200 completely different kinds of thyme, 40 or so various kinds of rosemary, 20 to 30 oreganos. So yeah, any a type of herbs, there’s an enormous assortment. After which on high of that, there’s a considerable amount of medicinal herbs for our herbalists within the area. We do so much with the American Herbalist Guild right here domestically, and many natives and different uncommon vegetation and vintage vegetation.

Margaret: After which I believe that as if that’s not sufficient, I believe possibly you and possibly your uncle, too, take pleasure in carnivorous vegetation [above]. Is that right? Is that one other specialty now?

Patrick: It’s. That has change into a specialty. Once I came visiting a decade in the past now from James Madison College, I used to work in a tissue-culture lab as an intern, the place I received to chop up Venus flytraps in take a look at tubes below sterile circumstances. And after I got here right here, my grandfather had one fish tank within the again with a group of issues that he had collected, and I knew easy methods to go in there with a scalpel.

And we do plenty of terrariums in dwelling sphagnum moss, and I can nearly recreate lab-like circumstances in that stuff, so filled with antibiotics and antifungals and rooting hormones, that I used to be capable of slice and cube and begin promoting a couple of. After which my uncle, who runs the enterprise, noticed that folks had been into it and he expanded the gathering even bigger.

Margaret: And he’s a native-plant fanatic, I believe, David Hyde; isn’t he as effectively?

Patrick: He’s. And plenty of these are all native. In order that’s one of many causes he actually, actually received into it’s as a result of he may add each single certainly one of these to his native lectures or his funky plant lectures.

Margaret: And in order if that weren’t sufficient, you then additionally inherited out of your grandfather, I imagine, plenty of roosters with very lengthy tails [laughter].

Patrick: Sure, I did. They’re the closest factor we now have to Onagadori [a Japanese breed] right here within the U.S. and sure, I inherited his flock. And I did plenty of genetics courses that had been initially impressed by understanding all of the genetics of those explicit roosters. And so now I breed them and promote them all around the nation now.

Margaret: Yeah, only a few little passions, huh, for variety? [Laughter.] So I believe your grandfather, Cyrus Hyde—from whom by the way in which, a long time in the past I used to mail-order plenty of vegetation for my backyard, so I’ve identified Properly-Sweep a very long time—I believe he kind of handed down the scented-geranium gene to you, Patrick. I believe he gave you a scented geranium once you had been a young person, possibly?

Patrick: I believe I used to be in all probability 16 or 17 after I received my first rose geranium, which he taught me to coach right into a topiary. And we’ve talked about rose geranium, the way it’s comparatively tolerant of many circumstances in comparison with among the different ones. And so I moved nearly yearly of faculty to a unique dorm room, completely different house, and it managed to stay on some northeastern-facing window sills, some east, some west. And it managed to provide you with me to the farm for fairly a couple of years till I over-zealously root-pruned and top-pruned it on the similar time one yr, a bit of bit an excessive amount of robust love, and I killed it. However I’ve gotten higher on the artwork of topiary since then, so the 2 that I’ve recreated in its stead are a lot nicer than the unique.

Margaret: However the ‘Outdated-Original Rose’ was your first scented geranium, and I believe it has many makes use of as do lots of the scented geraniums—and as do lots of the herbs in your assortment, different issues, too. What else? You may make tea. I believe you possibly can even use it kind of once you exit as bug repellent. Don’t you utilize it for different issues as effectively?

Patrick: Oh yeah, completely. If I really feel like occurring a hike tonight, I’ll seize a few leaves and rub my shins down and go away them in my sock and it stops the ticks from developing my legs. And in case you take a look at an natural tick repellent, you possibly can take a look at the ingredient checklist and it’ll all the time have Pelargonium graveolens [above] in there as effectively.

I’m about to shape-prune my topiaries, in all probability tonight or tomorrow evening. And I will likely be taking some cuttings of them, however then taking off all of the broad leaves and handing them to my grandmother to do a large number of rose geranium muffins that I will likely be that includes in plenty of my tea programs, each on the pageant and within the fall as a bit of tea accompaniment. And I’ll additionally in all probability use it in my tea programs as effectively.

Margaret: Yeah, even simply that one, even simply the rose, which is a well-known scent among the many scented geraniums… And we must always say they’re Pelargoniums, so I believe they’re from varied areas in Southern Africa initially, and the vary of scents is fairly staggering. I imply most individuals know concerning the rose and the citrus, for example, however wow; I imply that’s not even a drop within the bucket [laughter].

Patrick: Under no circumstances. Persons are most acquainted with both that or what goes by mosquito plant or citronella plant, which we name ‘Citrosa’ right here. We’ve got one other one we name ‘Citronella,’ which is what I might argue is the true citronella with a a lot better perfume to it, with a way more round leaf. After which, sure, it goes in all places from black pepper to southernwood to some oakleaf varieties that odor indistinctly like wooden, or some that odor like Parmesan cheese, even, or lime or lemon or oranges or strawberries.

So I typically have a child come as much as me and I say, “What’s your favourite taste?” [Laughter.] It doesn’t all the time work; typically they’ll say one thing actually obscure, however more often than not I might be like, O.Ok., after which I’ll attain down and seize a scented geranium of that taste and have them odor it.

Margaret: A method to get children to have interaction with vegetation for certain is to amaze them like that, proper?

Patrick: Yeah.

Margaret: Simply among the many kind of minty ones, there’s ‘Chocolate Mint’ and ‘Peppermint’ and every kind of-

Patrick: Yeah, Peppermint is a extremely popular one with a really fuzzy decrease progress behavior and a big fuzzy leaf. ‘Chocolate Mint’ is just like it, a bit of extra upright, with a great purple heart to the leaf. There’s ‘Peppermint Spice,’ one other certainly one of my favourite ones, with a pleasant nearly skeleton rose look to it with a pleasant upright progress behavior. I as soon as made a topiary out of that one, and the mint flavors proceed to go on. There’s ‘Mint Rose’ and ‘Variegated Mint Rose,’ which my grandmother likes. [Above, a Pelargonium pruned as a topiary.]

Margaret: And once you wish to do tea, do you simply pinch off some leaves and put them within the cup and pour some scorching water over it? Is it so simple as that, or is there one thing else? You don’t dry them or-

Patrick: I don’t dry them. You can dry them, however I actually love a fresh-cut tea, so I’ll use recent herbs as a lot as I presumably can, or accent a dried herb with a recent herb. And often I perform a little little bit of shape-pruning, so I wish to make artwork out of my herbs. And a pruning alternative presents itself each time I wish to make a cup of tea.

Margaret: It’s a harvest too, proper [laughter]?

Patrick: So if I’ve one department that’s going type of within the flawed path or a bit of bit too tall, that’s type of asking me to make a cup of tea. And I’ll take simply possibly the highest three leaves as a sprig per cup.

Margaret: Yeah, I imply I believe there’s even a coconut one, did I learn within the catalog, and a vanilla one?

Patrick: Coconut can be the weed of the Pelargonium household, and it’ll typically reseed itself in our backyard. Very low-growing, however very distinctly coconut. And it’s undoubtedly one of many landrace varieties from Africa. So is the rose geranium. And sure, there’s ‘French Vanilla.’

‘Outdated Spice’ geranium was once our top-seller within the perfume world till simply, I believe it was two years in the past, certainly one of our volunteers, his identify’s Greg, and he’s a geranium fanatic and he helps us preserve the gathering only for his personal enjoyable now that he’s retired. And he helped introduce the ‘French Vanilla’ and the ‘Black Pepper’ about two years in the past, and so they have each change into two of our favorites.

Margaret: Cool. And I do know there are different Pelargoniums that we in gardening known as the fancy-leaf geraniums, versus the scented geraniums, however a few of these scented ones have some fairly lovely leaves. You had been simply speaking, for example, about among the peppermint ones having type of very fuzzy, silvery leaves. They’re decorative, and a few of them have very dissected type of leaves, and a few are grayish and a few are variegated. And so they aren’t unshowy, regardless that they’re not technically the fancy-leaf geraniums. [Above and top of page, variegated-leaf ‘Charmay’s Snow Flurry.’]

Patrick: Yeah, completely. I imply, you could possibly subdivide these into these which can be bred for his or her flowers, or these which can be bred for his or her perfume, or these which can be bred for his or her foliage. And there’s plenty of lovely variegated kinds which have probably the most beautiful foliage on them if that’s what you’re into. Or there are some which have among the most beautiful scarlet or purple flowers or simply are very floriferous and can bloom and bloom and bloom. So it’s actually about what you need out of your geranium. That’s why I say there’s a geranium for everyone. So many various makes use of for them.

Margaret: And that’s why you’ve gotten 80-something [laughter].

And so talking of variegated, I imagine your grandfather bred some kind of lemony-scented ones which have some bi-color type of stuff occurring or no matter.

Patrick: ‘Lemon Crispum’ geranium is the Victorian one often known as the finger bowl geranium, and it’s an amazing lemon perfume with a very tight small leaf, and so they’ll float these leaves on a bowl of water throughout Victorian instances to rinse their fingers as they ate. In any case, he discovered possibly 30 years in the past a sport on one department with a golden edge, and he named that ‘Properly-Sweep Golden,’ and that hyper-mutated once more one other decade or so later, for a really lovely golden edge, which he named ‘Cy’s Sunburst.’ And that one has actually gotten common to the purpose now the place he by no means patented something so anybody may propagate it, nevertheless it undoubtedly made its approach all around the U.S. and past. I do know that he’s had associates in Russia and China which have reached out to him through letter and say, “Hey, Cy, we’ve received your plant over right here.” [Above, a ‘Cy’s Sunburst’ Pelargonium standard, with a ‘Pansy’ scented geranium, plus Kiwi the cat.]

Margaret: And what you’re describing when there’s a sport, when one thing simply happens on one a part of a plant and you then say hmmm, possibly that may make a brand new selection—this isn’t a fast course of. That is no get-rich-quick scheme [laughter] whether or not you patent it or not, is it? I imply, it takes some time. I believe you’re doing this, too, your self.

Patrick: I’m. And it is dependent upon the game. Some sports activities, like in peaches, peach bushes will go from fuzzy to not fuzzy on a regular basis. And you’ll clone that department that you really want and make a fuzzy or a fuzzless peach.

And the identical factor occurs within the geranium world. You possibly can have a sport variegate, and the extra variegated one thing is, the much less chlorophyll it has, and the harder of a reducing it’s to take. So sure, I believe my grandfather in all probability received…he’s received good power, so he in all probability received them to root immediately, however have one that’s an all-gold sport of his ‘Cy’s Sunburst’ and it is rather delicate to gentle and improper watering. So it, it’s taken me a few trial and errors to maintain it going.

Margaret: So it’s a multi-year course of for certain to start to get some cuttings to then construct up some inventory vegetation to then dot, dot, dot, I imply, proper?

Patrick: You by no means wish to preserve all of your eggs in the identical basket. Rooster analogies.

Margaret: Yeah. Properly, you realize one thing about chickens [laughter]. But it surely’s actually outstanding as a result of once more, we may select them for, as I stated, the introduction, for his or her flowers [above, the blooms of ‘Mrs. Kingsley.’]. We may select them as a result of we wish to simply have one thing on the windowsill that we will put our hand on and get a whiff of this intoxicating perfume and be simply invigorated and simply really feel good, even in kind of the shut-in season of the winter, and have certainly one of these unimaginable fragrances. Or to make tea and so forth.

So I stated they’re from Southern Africa, so that they’re not hardy in many of the United States. Clearly these are tender vegetation. I suppose they’re perennials of their homelands, of their native haunts. So what’s the way in which that one makes a longtime partnership with a scented geranium?

Patrick: So I love to do them in containers as a result of I do know they’re not going to winter over, although we do plant them out in our backyard. Or some individuals wish to plant them out in window containers. If you wish to allow them to die as an annual, that’s your personal prerogative, however if you wish to make a long-term pal of it, they like their very own container; plant it alone, and switch them into an artwork mission.

All of them have completely different progress habits. So a few of them might be very trainable in case you’re into topiary like I’m, or might be left to their very own sprawling behavior, by which case they’ll dangle over a pot, nearly like a dangling basket, actually superbly. Or a few of them have smaller leaves and so they can flip into nearly like little miniature bonsais. And so they all bloom, even those which have scrumptious perfume. So in case you don’t prune it, you’ll typically get flowers on the terminal branches.

Margaret: So the pinching and so forth that we is perhaps doing goes to discourage bloom.

Patrick: I not often see flowers on my rose geranium topiaries, apart from in February after I haven’t pruned it in a very long time and it’s within the greenhouse away from the wind, so it will probably get type of leggy with out falling over. And I’ll typically get flowers simply as I’m about to take some cuttings and I’ll be like, “Oh man, nevertheless it’s so lovely. I suppose I’ll simply let it bloom for a short time earlier than I trim it.”

Margaret: So if I’ve them in pots and I’ve had them in my backyard, and it will get to be—effectively, we’re within the Northeast, each of us, so it will get to be someday in September-October.

Patrick: They’ll’t get the frost, so that they need to be moved in earlier than the frost.

Margaret: Okay. And I’m in search of a sunny windowsill.

Patrick: Sure. Basic rule I educate my waterers is that the smaller the leaf on a geranium, the extra sunny and dry it wants it.

Margaret: Okay.

Patrick: So in case you had been into among the crispum geraniums we had been simply speaking about, or among the fragrans varieties, just like the ‘French Vanilla,’ they undoubtedly desire a south-facing, southeast-, southwest-facing windowsill. And plenty of the bigger varieties might be extra tolerant of an east- or a west-facing windowsill.

Margaret: As a result of they’ve extra leaf actual property, so to talk, to do photosynthesis?

Patrick: I suppose; they’ll deal with extra water. They’re much less prone to be over-watered with much less gentle. I educate individuals with much less gentle means much less water. So in case you don’t have prime actual property on the south-facing window, simply don’t water it as a lot in your east-facing window. These geraniums are from Africa, and so they can deal with very arid soil, so you actually wish to allow them to get good and dry in between a great, heavy drink.

Margaret: So I’ve received it on my window. So I introduced it in; it spent summer season outdoors within the backyard, however then I introduced my pot in and I’ve positioned it within the sunniest place I may give it, particularly those which have the smaller leaves, and I’m not going to overwater. And we spend the winter collectively. Do I pinch throughout the winter or do I simply go away it alone or-?

Patrick: I would depart it alone.

Margaret: Go away it alone. Let it do its factor.

Patrick: Yeah. If it’s too large to return in, you might want to perform a little little bit of shape-pruning earlier than you make it to the windowsill since you’ve received an obsessive assortment like I do [laughter], you then would possibly have to trim off among the facet branches, so you possibly can match another pots round it.

However apart from that, don’t do pruning over the wintertime. And the reason being as a result of it’s not getting sufficient gentle. So that you’ll see your plant type of get longer internodes by means of the wintertime, and get a bit of bit leggy. And I identical to to allow them to do their factor. And your objective is to get them to make it by means of the wintertime. And the one time I trim them by means of the wintertime is after I’m making tea [laughter] on a few the branches which can be getting a bit of bit too leggy.

However the cause that I don’t need individuals to prune it an excessive amount of over the wintertime is as a result of once you prune, you stimulate extra progress on the bottom. And the winter progress goes to be leggy. So I don’t wish to stimulate that new progress by pruning it till we hit the springtime. So after I’m able to take it out in possibly Could, hopefully by Mom’s Day in our space I can take it outdoors proper after our final frost, and I may give it a shape-prune. And by doing that after which placing it within the full solar, all that new progress that comes will likely be a lot tighter and so much stronger and much more secure for after we get all that wind later within the yr.

Margaret: Are we repotting? Are we root-pruning? Are we doing anything?

Patrick: As above, so beneath. So in case you’re going to trim the highest, it’s best to in all probability prune on the underside as effectively.

Margaret: Okay. So the 2 being associated ought to be comparable. And fast-draining soil, fertilizer-?

Patrick: Properly-draining soil. They’ll deal with sandy, nearly cactus-like soil, however additionally they do exactly nice in a wealthy soil so long as you keep away from phrases like “moisture management,” as a result of they don’t need their moisture managed. They wish to be well-draining. So I simply search for pure potting mixes, issues which have bark and perlite in them, combine a bit of granular fertilizer in there.

Do a pleasant clear reduce. So one thing individuals study, nearly all gardeners study, is to interrupt up the soil with their fingers and break up the roots with their fingers. And I discourage nearly everybody from doing that from a plant from Properly-Sweep Herb Farm, as a result of it’s in good soil. That’s one thing you do when you find yourself attempting to rescue a plant that has—I gained’t discuss unhealthy on anyone, however in case you get plant that’s planted in unhealthy soil that’s been on a fertilizer drip, it desires to be bare-rooted from that nutrient-poor soil and repotted. However when you’ve got a pleasant wholesome plant, use a pleasant clear knife and simply slice off a few sides.

Margaret: Okay. Scale back the basis of the basis ball a bit of bit.

Patrick: Sure. Scale back the scale of the basis ball after which replanting some new soil across the edges. You don’t have to get all aggressive with the basis system.

Margaret: I simply needed to ask about Aug. 30 and 31, the pageant.

Patrick: Sure. Our Fall Flower Competition the place we now have numerous visitor audio system coming to speak on butterflies and birds and bitters and making of gin-

Margaret: [Laughter.] And mushrooms.

Patrick: Sure. Smugtown Mushrooms out of New York will likely be coming down right here to do a few talks every day as effectively.

Margaret: They’re nice. And so it’s actually like, I imply, individuals can join varied issues. There’s stuff occurring Saturday and Sunday in any respect completely different hours that you simply’re doing.

Patrick: There’s no signups. It’s free. You possibly can simply stroll in and are available to courses.

Margaret: Oh, you don’t need to register prematurely.

Patrick: Appropriate. We could have some courses. Smugtown will likely be coming again to do some courses. All of our herbalists will likely be doing courses by means of the autumn. I will likely be performing some tea programs by means of the autumn, so that they’ll have the ability to come right here and get our schedule and take a look at the courses sooner or later. However this present day is all free.

Margaret: Oh, nice. So it’s simply stroll in and partake. Wow, that’s unimaginable. And benefit from the six acres of gardens as effectively.

Patrick: Yep. Loads of gardens, and many distributors and livestock.

Margaret: Properly, I don’t know. I don’t understand how you do it. It’s so much. You’ve received so much occurring over there [laughter].

Patrick: It’s a labor of affection for certain.

Margaret: Yeah. And it’s so lovely that the three generations are there collectively, loving it. I believe that’s what makes it so particular. It’s a stupendous story, and I’m so glad to have met you, and I’m glad to speak to you once more. So thanks a lot.

(Images from Properly-Sweep Herb Farm, used with permission.)

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