This invention relates to a new and distinct selection of Geranium, a member of the Geraniaceae family. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Geranium hybrids with unique flower coloration, unique foliage coloration, and a rosette growth habit.
Cultivar ‘Purple Passion’ was discovered as a seedling in a cultivated area of a Nursery in Tauranga, New Zealand. Geranium traversii var. elegans Cockayne and Geranium sessiliflorum Cavanilles were grown at this Nursery and this new selection was produced by open pollination of these two species. Seed was collected off of these open pollinated plants and sown the next season. When these seedlings flowered, seedlings were selected again. This process was repeated until a final selection was made in 1993 which had large purple flowers and purple foliage.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since 1993 at Tauranga, New Zealand has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.