Geranium × oxonianum 'Wargrave Pink'
cranesbill
- Position: full sun or partial shade
- Soil: fertile, well-drained soil
- Rate of growth: vigorous
- Flowering period: May to October
- Hardiness: fully hardy
This lovely geranium is extremely vigorous and long flowering. It soon forms hummocks of distinctly veined, deeply divided semi-evergreen foliage, smothered with funnel shaped, bright salmon-pink flowers from May to October. It can be thuggish, but given space is a useful groundcover plant for a cottage garden or herbaceous border. It self-seeds freely, too. - Garden care: In midsummer rejuvenate plants that are beginning to look jaded, by removing old flowered stems and leaves. Lift and divide large colonies in spring.
Salvia × sylvestris 'Rose Queen'
sage
Stunning spikes of rose-pink flowers
Foeniculum vulgare 'Giant Bronze'
fennel - bronze
Tall perennial with feathery, bronze leaves
Iris 'Silver Edge'
Siberian iris
Blue flowers edged with white
Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant'
catmint
A hardy catmint with lavender flowers
How to get more flowers
Many flowering plants can be encouraged to produce better and longer-lasting displays with the minimum of effort. A plant produces flowers in order to reproduce and ensure the survival of the species. Once a plant has flowered and fertilisation has...
Read full articleMediterranean
Mediterranean gardens can take on various guises from the rustic and rambling to the formal elegance of an Italian courtyard. However, they all have key features in common, including the use of exotic, sometimes tender, drought-tolerant plants in pots and...
Read full articleHardy geraniums
Hardy geraniums, commonly called cranesbills, are the stalwarts of a garden – they grow without fuss and bother, they flower reliably and without the gaudy excess of other garden premadonnas. For this reason, they are often overlooked as things of...
Read full articleGet more flowers
Deadheading will prevent them setting seed and so use their energy producing a further flush of blooms later on. Plants that respond well to deadheading include annuals such as Ageratum, Alyssum, Antirrhinum, Calendula, Centaurea, Cosmos, Dahlia, foxglove, Californian poppy, sweet...
Read full articleChelsea Chop and other methods of extending the flowering season
Many gardeners who are happy, even gung-ho, with the secateurs when pruning shrubs and climbers are surprisingly reluctant to take the shears to herbaceous perennials. Maybe this is because it just doesn’t seem quite right to be cutting back all...
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A pretty-pretty geranium with light green foliage and lots of neatly-petalled blue-pink flowers on a robust mound
Val Bourne - Garden Writer