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