QUERIES & QUANDARIES

Adele Haxton asked us for help identifying the plant pictured above.

This appears to be Geranium palmatum, distinguished from the more common G. maderense by its lettuce-green leaves. Both are natives of Madeira and the largest of all 442 geranium species.

The other main difference is that G. palmatum is a perennial, whereas G. maderense has a two-year life cycle and dies after flowering (but it seeds prolifically and seedlings will pop up all around the garden). There is also a white-flowered form of G. maderense, ‘Guernsey White’.

G. palmatum is available from a handful of specialist nurseries in New Zealand. – Gillian Vine