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Geums

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  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Most of mine have done well  this year but I've no idea what I did right.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    First time geum grower this year...in good enriched soil and watered well

    Lady Stratheden (yellow) is already really vigorous and flowers well.
    Fire Storm (orange) is much less vigorous and doesn’t flower nearly so well. It’s very floppy and the leaves lie on the ground and keep rotting off, which can’t help.

    An orange potentilla is a great idea for a substitute, @Purplerain if my orange one doesn’t pick up next year.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    One of my potentillas, the reddish one with the peachy centre, flowered all through the winter. It looks lovely weaving through a vivid blue veronica.
    Are they related to strawberries? The leaves and flowers have a slightly similar shape particularly similar to the wild ones.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • I love the idea of an orange potentilla as a substitute. Thanks all!
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 1,053
    edited June 2019
    The leaves are similar, but they don't produce edible fruit. The potentillas I have thrive on an area of very dry soil where there used to be a tree and even on hot days I never water them. Yours sound a lovely colour combination weaving through the veronica. This is an orange one with a red centre, but I forget its name. Sorry for the blurry image.

    SW Scotland
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited June 2019
    "Totally Tangerine" flowered itself to a standstill over 8 weeks or so, and "Lady Stratheden" is just coming to the end now. "Banana Daiquiri" is still going, but "Mrs Bradshaw" never really got going at all.
    That orange potentilla is a good substitute @Purplerain, it might be "Hopley's Orange" .
  • a1154a1154 Posts: 1,108
    I have red, orange and yellow, but the red is the best show, makes quite a big plant and lots of flowers, no signs of stopping anytime soon. It’s not Mrs Bradshaw though, it’s blazing sunset. Orange do really well too but they are much smaller plants. 
    It’s a dry area, and I haven’t fed or watered and don’t cut or prune. I find it fascinating what does well for one person doesn’t go well for another. I thought geum were unfussy and easy. 
  • LG_LG_ Posts: 4,360
    a1154 said:
    I thought geum were unfussy and easy. 
    Me too, but I have the same issues a lot of others have said. I have rivale in a damper spot, and it's lush and green and flowers profusely... but not repeatedly. Mrs Bradshaw and Mei Tei are both a bit meh -  the flowers are wonderful, but I don't get many and they don't last more than a week or two, then that's it for a year. I think my soil is too dry for them, but even when I've watered loads they didn't do much. This year has been the worst, but we've been more or less in drought all year so maybe they didn't get watered early enough.
    'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
    - Cicero
  • The crazy thing is Mrs Bradshaw loves it in my garden but Totally Tangerine just can't get going. Oh well. Time to try something else I think. Shame though as I love the colour.
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    If it's orange you're after @Ginny Barker, and you want to give it another try, a friend of mine grows "Diane" (bought it becauseof the name !), and that does well.
    http://www.geumcollection.co.uk/geums.html
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