Geranium cantabrigiense varieties

Well, since the hardy Geraniums are such unsung heroes, I thought I would continue and list a few more.

The first time I ever heard of a hardy Geranium was when I visited a local garden. The garden owner, Judy, was one of those gardeners who just had to grab a shovel and dig you a piece of anything you admired.

When Judy found out that I had never heard of hardy Geraniums, she insisted on my taking home a piece of Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokova' which you can see at the top of this photo (very pale pink, almost white). I don't know why I couldn't find a photo of the bloom close up on this variety.

Judy had another interesting trait. She would only grow plants if she could label them with their full botanical name. I had a black Columbine that she lusted over for years but refused to take home because we didn't know it's name. Unfortunately, Judy died way too early in life from breast cancer but her plants still live on in my garden.


One day while nursery hopping, I found a plant with the label Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina'. Since I knew 'Biokova' did so well for me, I of course had to try 'Karmina' too. Well, just like her sister, she grew like gangbusters (but not at all invasive) and bloomed like crazy.

Personally, I prefer the color of 'Biokova' a bit more which is unusual for me as I don't usually lean towards pale colored flowers.

Another cantabrigiense type of Geranium in my garden is 'Cambridge' which you can see here. It has almost the same color flower as 'Karmina' but I find a difference in foliage. It seems to have been a slower grower but it could just be because of it's slightly shadier and dryer location.

What's really nice about the cantabrigiense family of hardy Geraniums is that they have evergreen foliage. That is, unless there's ice or snow on the ground. In the fall they exhibit some really nice red highlights too.

I mean really, how could you go wrong with fall foliage like this?

Last year I did a post on dividing these types of Geraniums. I tried something new and they divided so well that I couldn't believe it. If you want to read about it, scroll down and look for the label on the side that says "Plant Propagation". You'll have to scroll past the post on Sedum cuttings and then you'll see how I propagated my hardy Geraniums.

No time to play in the garden today but tomorrow looks hopeful!

Melanie

Geranium 'Bevans Variety'

A number of years ago we had a garden center right up the road from us. It was part of a chain, the name was Franks Nursery and Crafts. Many of the plants carried by Franks were of the basic variety but if you looked carefully you would often find a true treasure.

I learned quickly that hardy Geraniums do quite well in my zone 6b garden here on Long Island. There are so many different types, some that prefer sun and others that need more shade.

One of the first varieties I bought was this one, Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety'.

(Side note, this tag is at least 6 or 7 years old and still in perfect condition!)

Here you can see this plant growing in the garden. This bed is not at all typical of my garden. You can still see the soil!

This area has a huge problem, it is at the base of a Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) tree that sucks the life from everything around it. Hardly anything grows here because the ground is chock full of roots and always dry. And yet, you can see how well this charming Geranium does here.


This week I hope to carefully pry this plant out of the ground and divide it into at least a half dozen pieces. In the past when I first planted it, I didn't use the internet to research proper growing conditions. Today I googled Geranium macrorrhizum and found a wealth of information at Mobot's wonderful site. Apparently I got lucky when I planted it in this horrible site as this Geranium is quite tolerant of dry conditions.

The new divisions I get will be spread around the garden in a few locations plus I might have 2 or three potted up for sale. I will try the new pieces in areas with better soil and a bit more sun to see how well this baby can shine.

Don't you love it!

Melanie

Hardy Geraniums - There's More!

Hopefully you still want to read more about the delightful varieties of Hardy Geraniums that I grow.

Thursday's shopping spree did happen and besides three stunning Hosta, I ended up buying another hardy Geranium. This one was Geranium pratense 'Hocus Pocus' which I'm sure I bought some time in the past but don't have anywhere in the garden right now.

It seems that a bit experimentation is required for some of these varieties. At first I always put them in the full sun borders but some were very unhappy there. Geranium maculatum (thanks Xris & Doug!) is in several spots now and by far happiest in the most shady spot. Yesterday when we came close to 90 degrees I noticed it wilting in the sunnier locations.



As you can see in this photo the Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokova' is starting to put on it's show.
When I first began planting the perennial border along our driveway I encounted a few problems. It was a year or two before I learned that the heat of the gravel and belgium block border, coupled with the fast drainage of any water delivered from the sprinkler system caused very different conditions along the front edge.

I've lost some hardy Geraniums in this location but the cantabrigiense varieties just thrive here along with many Sedum. I have an excellent slide of Stachys byzantine (lambs ears) spilling over the curb with Geranium sanguinium tumbling through the fuzzy gray foliage. An accident combination that I need to recreate. (I'd also like to figure out why those slides won't upload to this site.)


This purple bloom belongs to Geranium cantabrigiense 'Cambridge'. I had no idea it was a cantabrigiense until I looked it up on line here last week. A small piece had been included with a Daylily trade a few years ago and it's finally grown to a nice sized clump. I have it in a shadier spot so maybe it needs to have a piece moved to a sunnier location.

Finally, here's a shot of that Geranium 'Hocus Pocus' which was planted yesterday in my semi-shade border out back. One thing I've decided to try this year is to keep a record of purchased plants here on the computer. I'm taking a photo of the plant and the tag and also of it's location in the garden. I'm really tired of all the name tags showing in the garden so I'm going to write the name on a piece of mini blind and sink it behind the plant. We'll see how long I can keep this record keeping going.

Today looks like another day in the garden. Hopefully we get the rain that's forecasted, the gardens are bone dry right now.

I'm off to play in the compost heap, maybe I'll take a picture of it. Yesterday afternoon I was shifting the top layer when I discovered quite a treasure load of black gold underneath :-)

Happy digging!
Melanie