Comments on: The midcentury flower of choice: red geraniums

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:59:45 +0000

Did you know that this very picture is featured in the musical movie version of Little Shop of Horrors? As Audrey begings to fantasize about how her life would be if she were married to Seymour she sits at her vanity table and opens up a Better Homes and Gardens to this ad. This leads into a film sequence of her perfect life, complete with plastic furniture covers, a knotty pine den with TV trays and TV dinners, , their two children playing with a Howdy Doody puppet and an incredible Tupperware party. It’s worth watching the movie just for that sequence, but there’s so much more too.

By: Propagatrix

Propagatrix — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:04:24 +0000

Ah, the ubiquitous geranium-phormium-bacopa outdoor urn! Sometimes vinca was substituted for the bacopa, but only a philistine would omit the geranium.

By: sumac sue

sumac sue — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:15:40 +0000

My memories of mid-century flowers include irises and lily-of-the-valley in spring, marigolds and four-o’clocks in summer, and chrysanthemums in fall.

By: pam kueber

pam kueber — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:54:33 +0000

Sara in WA, I am so happy to hear of your success with the red geraniums!

By: Annie B.

Annie B. — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:43:59 +0000

Don’t forget the gladiolus….

By: Sara in WA

Sara in WA — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:17:50 +0000

My grandma (aka: Granny) always said a woman could make a home with just 2 things: curtains and flowers. Pam of course yours would be pinch pleats and red geraniums. Lot of wisdom in that statement. She had started out in a literal shack on the oil fields to a mid century modern pink home with a view. Thanks to your inspiration, I have red geraniums filling my window boxes of our very rustic unpainted farmhouse. They were the 1st flower I had success with and I think that’s another reason for their popularity: they’re easy! For Elaine, a few of Granny’s favorites (quite a mid century gardener!) were pansies in the spring, purple clematis vine (jackmanii) in summer as well as white calla lillies, petunias, and lobelia all with red geraniums. She loved the red and purple combinations.

By: Retrocat

Retrocat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:01:52 +0000

I almost forgot…….some other popular landscaping plants of the 50s and 60s were caladiums (red and white) and elephant ears.

By: Retrocat

Retrocat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:01:20 +0000

My mother loves red geraniums, and has them at her house. I’ve carried on the tradition, as well. To Meghan Wilker….I live in Texas, and grew up during the 50s and 60s. I don’t know if plants down here would thrive up there, but I’ll tell you what I remember. Monkey grass (border grass for the flowerbeds) was hot. Box shaped hedges close to the house (the perimeter of the house) were popular. Others were banana plants, mimosa trees, day lillies, althea bushes, gardenias, and kumquat bushes. Another popular thing was letting ivy grow on one exterior wall of the house.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:28:39 +0000

I love geraniums, particularly scented ones. I would love to see some ideas for MCM landscaping. Here’s what I remember from “helping” in my grandma’s garden in the 50s. For outside, pansies along the borders! Nowadays you can get cold hardy pansies that will survive long into the fall, and they are perennials, too. She had tiger lilies along the back of the beds and bulb plants like iris,. tulips and daffodils, and coral bells, and oh, yes, petunias. We have a neighbor with a MCM garden along her circle drive, with iris and coral bells. Our early 60s house had junipers and yew planted along the foundation in front with myrtle groundcover underneath. We took them out as they had gotten completely overgrown, and replaced them with smaller versions of yew and boxwood, which I remember from the 50s, and coral bells in front of them. Oh, don’t forget the roses! What else?

By: Tut

Tut — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:17 +0000

It’s one of my favorite images too; that yellow sink in a black countertop (or is that really cobalt?), her perfect figure, her pose. It’s all too sexy.