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Hardy Geranium worth switching?

FfoxgloveFfoxglove Posts: 538
in Problem solving
Hi- I’m after some advice please about hardy geraniums. 

I just cut back my Johnson’s blue geranium in the hope of a second flush but I only have a small garden and i’m wondering if I should take it out and out in a ‘better one’ like Rozanne which apparently flowers for longer. 

picture of my JB


Obviously digging out JB would be a bit of a pain but if people think there are much better performing geraniums then I’d do it for the long term enjoyment of a longer flowering one. 
Or am I just chasing the rainbow of a not existing perfect plant?
reading this is also to blame for this question: 

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Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I'm not that keen on Rozanne.
    I have 2 in the garden.
    Yes, they flower for much longer, but they're really straggly plants that cover a lot of ground but not that many flowers.
    I also have JB and much prefer it to Rozanne

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    I’m not sure it does flower any longer? I haven’t grown both side by side but most reference sources say Johnson’s Blue flowers May to August and Rozanne June to September.
    I’ve got Rozanne and she is often still in flower well into October but doesn’t start until June. She is also very untidy and sprawls which is ok in our informal, cottage garden but it doesn’t give that lovely mound effect you get from many geraniums. If buying anymore think I will go for Johnson’s Blue or Brookside.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited August 2021
    With you on that @Pete.8 - I've never understood why it's so popular. 
    Many geraniums are a bit shorter flowering, but they often have that 2nd flush of flowers, depending on where you live, so it's sometimes a case of researching to find one that suits.
    If you  like stronger colours, some of the vivid pink/magenta ones are great. Anne Folkard is possibly too sprawly for you, but Patricia and a few others might suit. 
    Have a search through some of the specialist growers' sites for ideas  :)

    G. Kashmir Purple is a nice variety too. One of the clarkeii types. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I think I had that in a previous garden @pitter-patter - a very good doer  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Buzzy2Buzzy2 Posts: 135
    My longest flowering geranium is. Mavis Simpson flowers from Spring until the Frosts.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Take a look at this site for ideas  :)
    https://hardygeraniumnursery.co.uk/
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Mum's got Brookside, much more impressive in flower than Rozanne - it blazes. But I had to cut it right back a fortnight ago, it had completely gone over and was a big strawy bird's nest thicket flopping over surrounding plants. Rozanne sprawls and doesn't flower so intensely (in terms of number or colour of flower) but goes on until frost, you can cut it back lightly or hard at any point and it just keeps going. Similarly G. Anne Thompson, but vivid magenta 
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • FfoxgloveFfoxglove Posts: 538
    thank you thank you so much for posting! I think I will keep JB then! Less work too. 

    @pitter-patter your garden is beautiful and that’s a lovely geranium and not one I’ve heard of. I will check it out for my front yard. 

    I planted Rozanne plugs in my parents’ garden so I’ll see how it does there. 

     Thank you for the recommended website @Fairygirl I’ll probably be the owner of a lot more geraniums soon!! 😂 

    I saw a nice one in B£Q the other day - dreamland - a lovely silver pink. 

    Thank you since every for all your help! 
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    I'm also not a big fan of Rozanne for all the reasons given above. However, I have recently discovered that it's pretty good for scrambling up through roses. The rose branches disguise the legginess of the geranium and the geranium flowers are nice between flushes of rose blooms.

    Nimbus does well for me. It's just going over but it's been flowering since May. I'll cut it back today. Probably won't get a 2nd flush but there'll be tidy mound of fresh leaves in a couple of weeks.

    Anne Thompson was cut right back about 3 weeks ago. Lots of fresh limey-green leaves and I'll expect her to start flowering again soon.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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