Carol Klein sings the praises of gorgeous geraniums and advises on hanging baskets
These beautiful, amenable plants will flower for months on end
The most predominant plant in the Glebe Cottage garden at the moment is the geranium. It’s not just one geranium but at least 20 plants each of 10 varieties or more. Margery Fish, the doyenne of cottage gardening, wrote: “When in doubt, plant a geranium".
They're the most amenable of plants, growing without any fuss or bother, disease-free and with strong constitutions. Above all though, they’re beautiful, with healthy green foliage spangled with flowers, often for months on end, and they possess that most endearing characteristic – they’re good mixers. Perennials, roses and other shrubs are enhanced and many of the woodland species are more than happy under a canopy of branches.
In our sunniest spot up on the large raised bed, where drainage is sharp and plants are exposed to the elements, the geraniums hug the ground. Here there are representatives of the G. sanguineum group. They're known in common parlance as the ‘bloody cranesbill’ because its foliage often turns red later in the season.
One form of it now known as
G. sanguineum striatum used to go under the title of G. sanguineum lancastrense, as it was originally found on Walney Island off the Lancashire (now Cumbrian) coast. It’s one of the prettiest geraniums, with large, pale pink flowers lined with red. It flowers for ages with a bit of judicious deadheading.
Slightly taller with wiry stems, G. sanguineum ‘Album’ flowers for a shorter time, spreading gently under the soil surface making little thickets topped with large, white flowers. There are also many newer varieties: ‘Ankum’s Pride' with vivid pink flowers; ‘Elsbeth’ with large, deep pink flowers margined with paler pink.
Just across the track from the raised bed, it’s a different story – plants have to cope with shade and tree roots. Here G. sylvaticum (‘of woodland’) is perfectly at home. It’s a native, though rare. The species plant has deep purple flowers and there’s a white form, but G. sylvaticum ‘Amy Doncaster’ is the most beautiful with deep blue flowers and a pale centre.
From the USA, G. maculatum is a good choice for areas between shrubs or under trees. Usually lavender blue or white, there’s a lovely purple form named after Beth Chatto. The other candidates for a tough, shady site are forms of G. phaeum, the ‘mourning widow cranesbill’. The type plant has dark flowers and ‘Samobor’, has large, dark blotches on its leaves.
Out in the open garden most cranesbills will survive in the hurly-burly of the border, G. psilostemon and G. pratense are probably the best qualified. Clumps of
G. psilostemon can go on producing their vivid magenta flowers for years.
The meadow cranesbill, a native plant, appears as a self-seeder all over the show with a variety of flowers – pale blue, deep blue, almost grey and verging on pale pink. They may stay for a year or two, then they'll disappear to be replaced by self-sown seedlings.
Whether you want your cranesbills to play a leading role or use them as practical ground cover under roses, to clothe a shady bank or to star in the sun, they're surely the most easy-going and useful of plants.
'Whether you want them to play a leading role or use them as ground cover, they're the most easy-going and useful of plants'