Hi everyone, my garden is lacking colour at the moment,as most of my bushes & plants are late spring & early summer flowering ones,I’ve plenty of greenery but not much flowering at the moment.As I have some gaps in my borders,I thought of getting some summer bedding like geraniums to give a bit of colour,is it too late in the year to plant them ? or would it be ok as I have read that geraniums flower until late Autumn,I would be grateful for any advice.Thank you.
Hi @harmony. I don't have a shrubby potentilla, so my advice is general for new shrubs.
Is the ground rock hard and dry at the moment? If so I would wait a bit for the heatwave to pass, keeping it hydrated in its pot would be easier. Pot it on a size up if it's pot bound.
If your soil is soft enough to dig a decent planting hole, be prepared to water it frequently during these hot drought conditions. Newly planted shrubs need a bit of tlc until they put their roots down and settle into a new spot, my concern would be that conditions in your "sunny border" might be a bit stressful for it.
Elizabeth, there are some geraniums - Rozanne being the best known and also one of the largest - that are still flowering strongly now and yes you could add them. I wouldn't call them bedding plants. Maybe you mean pelargoniums? You can plant any of these now provided that your soil is loose enough to get a trowel in it (mine isn't) and you have the facility and time to keep them well watered. Any type of plant going in now (in the UK) will really struggle because the ground is so dry.
It might be better to take note of the gaps now and in the autumn, plant some summer flowering perennials so that next year, you have more continuity of colour
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I'd agree with Kitty re the potentilla. They like a bit of moisture to do well anyway, so if you're able to give them that [in the ground] then it would be ok to plant, but otherwise, keep potted for now, and keep it in a bit of shade until there's regular rain to moisten ground properly. Even established here in my garden, and next door, have flowered poorly until last week,when we've had a bit of rain. Highly unusual.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@harmony. I moved my potentilla from the normal clay soil border as it seemed lost there with the bigger plants and put it where there is a very dry sandy border and it seems to love it there.
I have potentilla cinquefoil tonguei in a dry hummock where a tree used to be as I couldn't think of anything else that would thrive there. They get full sun but I never water them apart from the initial planting, and they flowers well (upright without sprawling).
I don't have the shrubby Primrose Beauty, but I would agree with Bijdezee that they like dry conditions. Mine are looking sulky and closed up today as the weather is cloudy and damp.
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Is the ground rock hard and dry at the moment? If so I would wait a bit for the heatwave to pass, keeping it hydrated in its pot would be easier. Pot it on a size up if it's pot bound.
If your soil is soft enough to dig a decent planting hole, be prepared to water it frequently during these hot drought conditions.
Newly planted shrubs need a bit of tlc until they put their roots down and settle into a new spot, my concern would be that conditions in your "sunny border" might be a bit stressful for it.
Good luck 👍😊.
It might be better to take note of the gaps now and in the autumn, plant some summer flowering perennials so that next year, you have more continuity of colour
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Even established here in my garden, and next door, have flowered poorly until last week,when we've had a bit of rain. Highly unusual.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I don't have the shrubby Primrose Beauty, but I would agree with Bijdezee that they like dry conditions. Mine are looking sulky and closed up today as the weather is cloudy and damp.