Red Geraniums

After writing about the ivy geranium yesterday,

today I thought I'd give equal time to the prototypical red geranium--

the one I never have much luck growing for some reason.

But this year they seem to be everywhere I look,

and each one is more vivid and beautiful than the last.

So here is a gallery of some beautiful red geraniums

from morguefile.com:

Would we say this one is as "pretty as a picture"?

I thought this line of geraniums in red pots was striking
even though the paint didn't stick to the terra cotta.
That's life:

And up close, there is nothing more vibrant:

These geranium are almost lost in all the color on the building.

Amazing how backgrounds can make an image pop or fade:

And for a big finish, there is this grand blossom:

I've read that geraniums are also called cranesbills, 

but I don't think that name does them justice.

There's a note in the Wikipedia entry for geranium that says:

"not to be confused with germanium,"

which is the whitish-gray metallic/chemical element Ge in the periodic table.

As if any one could.

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