VERSATILITY Hardy geraniums are the perfect perennial for softening edges and filling in gaps beautifully

Cranesbills, or hardy geraniums, get both their common name and their Greek-derived name for the resemblance of their seed heads to the beak of a crane. The brilliant gardener, plantswoman and writer, Margery Fish, famously said, ‘when in doubt, plant a geranium’. There’s no doubt that they’re among the most useful and versatile of our garden plants. What’s more, there are geraniums for absolutely every situation, from shade to sun.

The garden at Glebe Cottage is full of our meadow cranesbill, Geranium pratense, a native plant and still to be seen during June and July growing on grassy road verges and at field margins. It self-seeds all over the show.

All geraniums catapult their seeds; the six mericarps, the outside bits of the seedpod, roll up when ripe and fling the seed into the air.

We always leave as many as we can to flower. Sometimes they put themselves in exactly the right place, though occasionally they’re so enthusiastic they can obscure less energetic neighbours. Presently I’m in two minds about whether or not to remove a couple of giant plants that have put themselves in front of agapanthus in the little beds by the front steps. Although we started with the native blue form, there are now plants with white, pale grey, lavender and even pink flowers and since we introduced a dark-leaved variety, similar seedlings pop up here and there.

At Chelsea, in the Plant of The Year competition, Sparsholt College entered

G. pratense ‘Storm Cloud’, a bronze-leaved variety with semi-double, deep blue flowers.

Our meadow cranesbill softens edges and fills in gaps. As soon as petals fall we cut them down to make room for summer flowers that will give a longer show, but very often they reflower later.

Cranesbills are usually associated with sunny open borders. G. sanguineum and its lovely variant G. sanguineum striatum is from Walney Island, where we saw it growing on sand dunes. G. oxonianum in its various forms adorns huge numbers of British gardens. ‘Johnson’s Blue’ and ‘Buxton’s Blue’ feature in many a border and are virtually indestructible out in the open, enjoying the sunshine along with the Kashmir crew – ‘Kashmir White’, ‘Pink’ and ‘Purple’, respectively all forms of G. clarkei.

But on the shady side under the trees and between towering shrubs, there are a host of geraniums that are perfectly at home. They come from shady areas, from the forests of America, the copses and thickets of Europe and the scrub and woodland floor of the Himalayas. From North American woodland, G. maculatum is very special. Its white form, G. maculatum album, is sublime. Its immaculate flowers with their rounded petals are borne on 45cm (1½ft) stems. Above a clump of broad, divided leaves, the plant has soft lavender flowers.

G. maculatum ‘Beth Chatto’ is a refined selection named for the famous plantswoman. Use it in a shady place alongside the tall, graceful stems of Solomon’s seal, or, to accentuate its cool lavender colour, plant it with geum ‘Lionel Cox’, whose pale lemon flowers complement it perfectly. There are so many new geums but to my mind this is the best of all. None to be seen at Chelsea though!

G. sylvaticum, from the woodland edges of Europe, including the British Isles, also has lavender-purple flowers. I’ve seen it in the Highlands, growing alongside Trollius europaeus, the globe flower. One selection with particularly deeply coloured flowers is ‘Mayflower’, although this is a slightly misleading name since it flowers intermittently through summer. Its cool colour, best appreciated under trees, shines out from the shade.

And it’s not only their flowers that grace our gardens. By the autumn, leaves, too, are at their best, exhibiting a fine palette of reds, oranges and russets.