Hardy Geranium recommendation?

Hi,

I seem to have a number of hardy geranium varieties in my garden. I have not bought any of them, so I can't say what they are. I have lowgrowing pale pink ones, which flower profusely but then become floppy, so I cut them back and they grow back nicely. They form a neat mound.


I also have some really tall, darker pink ones, which flowered for ages but which have just exhausted themselves, so they'll be trimmed soon. I have some deep blue ones, medium sized, which flower beautifully but probably only for a couple of weeks or so.
dark blue ones:


Then I have some really tall pale blue ones which need staking, they flower super well, but earlier in the summer. I cut them back, and there is now a little flush of new flowers, but way less than earlier in the summer.
pale tall blue ones on the left on here:

They attract loads of bees:


Here's my question: I have decided I adore hardy geraniums. I love their silky leaves, their excellent ground covering habit, and their blousy, romantic kind of look. Last year, I bought a pink variety from Nottcutts which have disappointed me because they only flowered briefly in May, and they have done nothing at all since then.

I am looking to order some new geraniums online to fill a few left over gaps in my borders. I would like some varieties that flower for as long as possible. I don't mind their colour or size, but would prefer them not to be so tall as to need staking. So probably up to 50 cms tall I guess.

What's your favourite hardy geranium? Which ones can you recommend? Links to suppliers etc also appreciated.

Also, how can I get new clumps from my existing plants? Do I just hack off a piece with a spade? Or is there a technique to it? When can I do it? Do I have to wait until the autumn? :confused:

 

What a brilliant question - I also need the answer!!!!!

 

I'm a gerry lover, i'll get in on some tips for my patio pot area!

 

So there are now 3 peeps who'd like to know what your favourite hardy geraniums varieties are! But it seems like all the knowledgable people are too busy gardening to come on here at the moment. I'll wait patiently.

 

You have some lovely plants there Rosie. I have a few, but am no expert. However there are three that I really would recommend. They are



Geranium 'Patricia', the pink one in the background. And G. 'Rozanne' ('Jolly Bee' is said to be identical and thought to be the same plant) the blue one in the foreground. Both of these are sterile hybrids, which may explain why they flower for an extremely long period. There is a specialist geranium forum in the US, and these two are constantly being voted the top ones.



The other is G. 'Ann Folkard'. Its more of a dusky purple, often with acid green leaves. Here it's weaving through catmint (Nepeta fasenii). This is more of a weaver that a clumper, and it also flowers for a very long time - 23 weeks in full flower for me last year.

A source of information that I like is http://www.cgf.net/plants.php?letter=G This is Bob Brown's nursery. He has been a gold medal winner at Chelsea. He was a schoolmaster at one time and likes to rate his plants on a scale of 1 to 10. I bought mine based on his high scores, and I have not been disappointed.

Another one I have is G. 'Dusky Krug'. Its a small plant with chocolate leaves and pale pink flowers. Mine took a while to settle down, and is not as robust as the others, but now it is really doing well.

 

Thank you so much Peter, those are utterly lush! Keeping note of those names, i love the idea of long term flowering!

 

Brilliant, PeterS, thanks! No need to be so modest, the info you've given is exactly what I was after. 3 varieties will do me, I think, as I don't have that many gaps left now (hooray!). So I will try all three of those - 2 clump-forming ones and one weaving variety will be very handy, I think.

Do you have any tips on how to make several smaller plants out of the big clumps I've got? Do I pull some up by hand? Or hack off a piece with the spade? Do I wait until the autumn? Or spring? And how well established does a geranium have to be before you can start to chop away at it again? Is 1 year enough?

Thanks again for your reply, and for your beautiful pictures!

 

Thanks for your kind comments Rosie. My propagation book says to divide in April or August. These are general figures for all Geraniums. As the ones I mentioned are such long flowerers I would be more inclined to wait till September or October.

My own inclination would not be to pull up by hand, but to divide with a spade. The traditional way is to lift the entire plant then chop it in two or three pieces. I like to keep the pieces big to maximise the chance of success. But last autumn I divided G.'Patricia' into two with a spade, when it was still in the ground, and then only dug up one half, which again I divided into two. The remaining half was twice the size of one of the quarters that I then planted in the front garden. The remaining half has now regrown to be 6 times the size of the plant in the front garden (which is doing well). Thats been a lesson to me. Lifting a plant and breaking many small roots does set a it back quite a bit. Both 'Patricia' and 'Rosanne' are so vigorous that they probably could be divided again after only a year, certainly two.

For the first time this year, I supported both 'Patricia' and 'Rozanne' with very short canes and string round the outside. It soon covered these. In previous years they flopped outwards leaving a bald patch in the centre. This wasn't quite as bad as it sounds as new growth came from the centre. But it still looked bald for part of the time. This year it has looked much better.

 

My parents have blue and pink ones, my dad splits them by using a spade - I'm waiting to get some this year.

 

I grow g canariensis which has proved to be hardy for me, its probably a more borderline species than the ones above but is easy from seed and rather nice.