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Geums
Cambridgerose12
Posts: 1,134
in Plants
Hello all, happy Easter, I'd welcome people's thoughts on their experience with Geums. There are so many varieties that it's hard to select without more input. I have tried 'Totally Tangerine' and 'Flames of Passion' in my garden. TT has done OK, not brilliantly but is still alive and flowering every year, though not nearly as long as the descriptions say. FoP died overwinter. I have heavy clay soil, alkaline and lacking in quite a lot of trace elements (apparently) plus lots of slugs.
I'm thinking of a Geum for my front and because of the above am thinking of some form of rivale, but I know there are lots of hybrids with this species now. Ideally I'd like it to have quite a strong colour, and to last more than 12 months...
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Hi Cambridgerose
I have the same two geums. Totally Tangerine has grown and grown and grown - but it's the wrong colour for the bed it's in so in the autumn I dug it up and put it in a big tomato pot - it's continued to grow and has flowered most of the winter.
Flames of Passion (don't think the name suits it
) has just re-appeared after dying down over the winter.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks Dovefromabove...I did hope my Flames would reappear and waited...and waited, but in vain. As it was in a better spot than Totally Tangerine I am hesitant to try it again, but it's SO nice I may have to. Did yours bulk up at all?
I accidentally put TT in front of Iris sibirica 'Tropic Night' and that worked really well. (Yes, accidentally).
That sounds gorgeous - I'm passing my TT to my daughter Wonky - I'll tell her about that combination.
Flames hasn't really bulked up, but I've not had it as long as TT - I only bought it fairly late last summer - maybe this year?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
..my favourite Geum is 'Blazing Sunset', which is a bright strong red... but you did say you wanted a strong colour.... I think it must be superior to the better known 'Mrs Bradshaw' as it has a longer flowering season right into autumn...
...my plants seem to be coming back well each year...
...I also have the bright yellow 'Lady Stratheden' and for orange I prefer the little Geum borisii with its single blooms just seems more natural looking...
...happy choosing..
I find they are all relatively short lived and usually get 3-5 years out of plant before they go toes-up. 'Blazing Sunset' is also my favourite and some of those are still going after about 8 years.
I grow a few. The G. rivale types do better in damp soil. The chiloense types can take dryer conditions. Biggest problem is vine weevils grubs who love the roots.
http://s703.photobucket.com/user/Owdboggy/library/Geums
Oh, thanks, these are great suggestions. I hadn't even thought of 'Blazing Sunset' but like it a lot. You could be right Berghill, I do have a vine weevil problem in the back garden which could account for the demise of 'Flames' (given its position). The one I'm looking for now will go in the front where I don't have the same issues, so perhaps it will survive a bit longer...
I have geum rivale which, as Berghill says, prefres damper soil and is very happy near my unlined pond. I also have Mrs Bradshaw and Lady Stratheden which are both doing very well in several places in my garden and fine in better drained soil.
I bought Flames of Passion and a couple of other new ones last year at the late spring plant fairs here. They did very well but it remains to be seen how they'll do after winter. Haven't checked those beds yet.
No vine weevil here as yet but it's been a funny, off on winter and off on spring and that can play havoc with plants.
Gorgeous photos Berghill - love blazing sunset and Mai Tai.
I have a few, but the ubiquitous Mrs Bradshaw is a much stronger grower tham the rest (Bells bank, tequlia sunrise and flames of P)