Oh fabulous pics today, thank you.. @perki@TheGreenMan so many I like I don't know where to start.. especially the amber Epimedium.. and those Delphiniums..
I rather like Geranium 'Dragon Heart'.. I have similar in 'Patricia' which I'm going to show in a moment..
@owd potter yes, I'll be watching your garden progress very closely..
I've had a few Gauras, as I still call them [now Oenothera].. Whirling Butterflies, the Passionate series and one I really liked called 'Cherry Brandy' which unfortunately did not stand winter wet one year.. now I have this one, which is equally good, it just flops a bit after heavy rain. It gets quite large and bulky in the first year..
GAURA 'Pink Dwarf'
Geum's are another short lived plant for me.. GEUM 'Lady Stratheden'.. GEUM 'Blazing Sunset'..
..the rather incredible Geranium 'Mavis Simpson'... this is just one plant.. Geranium sanguineum 'Matt Frei'.. has a long season.. Geranium 'Russell Prichard'.. May-Sept.. Geranium 'Patricia'.. I find this flowers into autumn if not cut back. If I cut it back at midsummer, it doesn't rebloom.
@Marlorena Stunning pics, as per. Can I ask if you have noticed if all the above geraniums are equally attractive to pollinators? My Rozanne that is one the plants I have which is most attractive to bees. They preference it to sedum, salvia, poppies and everything else planted for them in that same full sun bed. The preference is striking. The very long season (mine started flowering in Feb this years and will go to Nov) will be offering huge amounts of nectar all year. I'm curious if this attraction is at all peculiar to Rozanne.
There is research here showing that Rozanne beat others as the number one Bee plant (partly because of its sterility, leading to a very long flowering season). So, perhaps it is Rozanne in particular and not geraniums in general that are so good for bees.
@Fire Well, I suppose any plant that flowers so long like that one does, will attract its fair share of bees along the way. I don't have Rozanne at the moment, and incidentally I think the article wasn't quite correct, stating that it was produced by human intervention which made the writer uncomfortable. I understand it was found as a chance seedling in the garden of Rozanne Waterer in Somerset.. she passed it on to Blooms of Bressingham who introduced and PBR'd it, and with aggressive protection I might add.
..this one below attracts masses of insects.. it was sold to me as Geranium 'Johnson's Blue', but I've never seen that one grow this tall, at about 4 feet, so I think it may not be correct and it's Geranium pratense, the meadow cranesbill. I wish I could be sure, because it's a fabulous plant for late May and throughout June.. GERANIUM 'Johnson's Blue' [?]...[Pratense?]
Filipendula in a rocky? 😱 😱 😱 My estimation of the plant is entirely wrong, then. I thought it was a semi-bog plant. I also see that what I thought was a filipendula trying to come through is another type plant entirely. The filipendula leaves are similar to common valerian and I might have pulled it out by mistake. Blast. Yours looks wonderful. Hows long does it flower? @owd potter
I use the term 'rockery' rather loosely @fire to refer to the above area as we inherited it when we moved in April 2018. I have filipendula here and also in other beds higher up the garden all planted by previous owners. We are south facing and both of these beds are in permanent day long full sun in slightly acid clay soil. The soil tends to remain damp pretty much year round except in high summer when it bakes hard in prolonged dry weather. So it is definitely not a bog garden. I cannot grow Ligularia for example in these beds, I have tried. I find filipendula is very easy to divide and replant and takes readily for me. It flowers throughout June, roughly from end May until maybe first week of July depending on weather each year. I find this to be startlingly white, so underplanting my roses with it is most definitely an experimental planting for me this year.
I have many geums, but this is my favourite one at the moment. I love the colour and the habit. Coral Tempest.
Geraniums: Magical All Summer Pink. Good ground cover, and probably would look very good trailing over the edges of a pot. Long flowering season for me and beautiful flowers.
Jolly Jewel Salmon
Ballerina
One of my favourite geraniums: Jolly Jewel Purple
Orion. I will have to move this geranium as it’s swamping the roses. A bit too tall and vigorous, but with a long flowering season.
Rothbury Gem Other very good geraniums I grow: Azure Rush, sanguineum ‘Shooting Star’, Patricia, Russell Pritchard (I keep dividing and taking cuttings of this one, it’s such an easy long-flowering plant).
Gypsophila ‘Flamingo’. I’m really fond of gypsophilas, I only wish they had a longer season.
@pitter-patter ..fabulous Geraniums, I particularly like 'Rothbury Gem' actually... lovely Gypsophila, I used to grow the Festival series, white and pink. I recall they flowered for a long time, but yours is simply beautiful.
E. Polychroma ‘Bonfire’ - a great front of border one, forms petite mounds, changes to rusty/purple tones in autumn, young plants shown, they get bushier:
E. Blackbird - I was disappointed in this. It always looked scruffy and didn’t thrive for me. Interesting colours though:
E. Mellifera - looks very similar to @TheGreenMan’s honeypot, is that a new cultivar of Mellifera or something else? Mine is almost evergreen, but I chop it back every year to keep it under control:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Gaura is a star of my east garden. Reliable, incredibly long-flowering (beats G. Rozanne!) and goes with everything. Cultivars are not named here, they are all called Gaura/Whirling Butterflies, so all I can say is I have a large arching white one, a medium-sized arching, pink-tinged one and a shorter, upright white one!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Posts
I rather like Geranium 'Dragon Heart'.. I have similar in 'Patricia' which I'm going to show in a moment..
@owd potter
yes, I'll be watching your garden progress very closely..
GAURA 'Pink Dwarf'
Geum's are another short lived plant for me..
GEUM 'Lady Stratheden'..
GEUM 'Blazing Sunset'..
Geranium sanguineum 'Matt Frei'.. has a long season..
Geranium 'Russell Prichard'.. May-Sept..
Geranium 'Patricia'.. I find this flowers into autumn if not cut back. If I cut it back at midsummer, it doesn't rebloom.
..more later.
Well, I suppose any plant that flowers so long like that one does, will attract its fair share of bees along the way. I don't have Rozanne at the moment, and incidentally I think the article wasn't quite correct, stating that it was produced by human intervention which made the writer uncomfortable. I understand it was found as a chance seedling in the garden of Rozanne Waterer in Somerset.. she passed it on to Blooms of Bressingham who introduced and PBR'd it, and with aggressive protection I might add.
..this one below attracts masses of insects.. it was sold to me as Geranium 'Johnson's Blue', but I've never seen that one grow this tall, at about 4 feet, so I think it may not be correct and it's Geranium pratense, the meadow cranesbill. I wish I could be sure, because it's a fabulous plant for late May and throughout June..
GERANIUM 'Johnson's Blue' [?]...[Pratense?]
It flowers throughout June, roughly from end May until maybe first week of July depending on weather each year.
I find this to be startlingly white, so underplanting my roses with it is most definitely an experimental planting for me this year.
Magical All Summer Pink. Good ground cover, and probably would look very good trailing over the edges of a pot. Long flowering season for me and beautiful flowers.
Rothbury Gem
Other very good geraniums I grow: Azure Rush, sanguineum ‘Shooting Star’, Patricia, Russell Pritchard (I keep dividing and taking cuttings of this one, it’s such an easy long-flowering plant).
Gypsophila ‘Flamingo’. I’m really fond of gypsophilas, I only wish they had a longer season.
..fabulous Geraniums, I particularly like 'Rothbury Gem' actually... lovely Gypsophila, I used to grow the Festival series, white and pink. I recall they flowered for a long time, but yours is simply beautiful.
E. Polychroma ‘Bonfire’ - a great front of border one, forms petite mounds, changes to rusty/purple tones in autumn, young plants shown, they get bushier:
E. Mellifera - looks very similar to @TheGreenMan’s honeypot, is that a new cultivar of Mellifera or something else? Mine is almost evergreen, but I chop it back every year to keep it under control: