Pelargonium

A tender, bushy evergreen subshrub from southern Africa grown almost everywhere for one reason: its deeply lobed, soft, gray-green leaves release an intense rose-with-a-hint-of-mint fragrance the moment you brush or pinch them. The honest point to get right up front is the name. This is a Pelargonium, not a hardy true Geranium (cranesbill) — the two are routinely confused because 'geranium' was attached to both centuries ago, but Pelargonium graveolens is frost-tender, while the perennial border geraniums most gardeners know are cold-hardy. Across most of North America it is grown as a warm-season annual, a patio container plant, or a houseplant overwintered indoors, not as a permanent landscape shrub. The small pinkish flowers are insignificant; the aromatic foliage is the entire point, and it is also the commercial source of rose-geranium essential oil and a kitchen herb for scenting teas, sugar, baked goods, and jellies.

The classic bedding "geranium" — a tender hybrid of South African Pelargonium parentage grown for rounded umbels of red, pink, orange, purple, or white flowers that bloom freely all season. Its rounded, kidney-shaped leaves often carry a dark circular band, the "zone" that gives the plant its name. Hardy only in USDA zones 10-11, it is grown as an annual or overwintered indoors across most of North America.