Pelargonium vs Geranium — What's the Difference?

If you've ever been confused about whether the colourful bedding plant at the garden centre is a "geranium" or a "pelargonium", you're not alone. The two names are used interchangeably in everyday gardening, but they refer to different plants that belong to the same family but different genera — and with meaningfully different care needs.

The short answer

The bright, colourful bedding plants sold in garden centres as "geraniums" are actually pelargoniums — specifically Pelargonium x hortorum (zonal pelargoniums) and Pelargonium peltatum (ivy-leaved pelargoniums). They originate from South Africa and are frost-tender, needing to be brought inside before winter or grown as annuals. True geraniums — cranesbills — are a separate genus of hardy perennials that survive frost and cold winters outdoors without any protection.

How to tell them apart

The easiest visual difference is flower symmetry. True geranium flowers are radially symmetrical — perfectly round with petals of equal size arranged evenly. Pelargonium flowers are bilaterally symmetrical — two upper petals are often slightly different in size or marking from the three lower ones, giving them a slightly irregular appearance. Pelargoniums also often have distinctive zone markings on their leaves (a dark horseshoe band), and many have a distinctive scent when leaves are crushed.

• Pelargonium: frost-tender, often zoned leaves, irregular flowers.
• Geranium: fully hardy, no leaf zones, symmetrical flowers.
• Both are in the family Geraniaceae but different genera.
• Garden centres typically label pelargoniums as "geraniums".

Why it matters for care

The distinction becomes critical when planning overwinter care. Hardy geraniums (cranesbills) need nothing — they die back naturally and regrow in spring. Pelargoniums will be killed by frost and must be brought indoors, overwintered in a frost-free place, and potted up again in spring. If you treat a pelargonium as a hardy geranium and leave it outside over winter in a cold climate, you will lose it.

Both have their place

Pelargoniums offer long-season colour in pots, baskets, and bedding from late spring to autumn. Hardy geraniums provide reliable, low-maintenance colour in borders, and many have excellent autumn foliage. Both groups are valuable garden plants once you understand what each requires. The confusion in naming is simply a historical legacy from when the two groups were classified together before botanical distinction separated them.