Geranium ‘Rozanne’
Every so often you have to steel yourself to make changes, hoping to improve a design or a plant combination that’s got tired or hasn’t worked out in the way you’d hoped. The two small beds on either side of our front door got a half-time revamp in July when we added a few big plants; clumps of Coreopsis lanceolata, Stokesia laevis and white echinacea and, for short-term effect, a couple of hedychiums and miscanthus ‘Cosmopolitan’ in ornamental pots standing within the bed. Earlier in summer these same beds were awash with blue geraniums ‘Orion’, ‘Brookside’ and self-seeded G. pratense. A sea of blue while it lasted but by late July when we launched our revamp, most had finished flowering. We cut them back with shears but their foliage came back in abundance, overpowering less vigorous occupants. Time for a rethink. In every part of the garden you want the show to go on as long as possible but in these beds right by the house it’s particularly important, so these geraniums are coming out and are being moved to the broad bed beside the hedge in the brick garden. We’re leaving two plants of a blue geranium ‘Rozanne’ and adding more of the same. The great advantage of this cranesbill is that it flowers continuously from June until November, and though it scrambles it doesn’t grow too high. Everything in these beds has to earn its keep.