Having recently emerged from a 48-hour post vaccine fuzz, I decided to try a bit of gorilla gardening today as it’s a public holiday in Belgium. Given our weather conditions in northern Europe this month, this meant making surreptitious raids to sow a quick lettuce crop or pop some gladioli bulbs into the border, before being forced to beat a hasty retreat by the superior firepower raining down on me from the heavens.
During one such sortie, I appreciated two geraniums bringing late spring splashes of colour to the garden. These are not bold and show-stopping like the peonies or roses coming into bloom soon, but they bridge the gap between spring and summer in a dainty and pretty way, and they lend themselves to all sorts of interesting combinations.
The first is Geranium sylvaticum ‘Mayflower’. As the name implies, its a woodland geranium, native to Europe, that likes cool conditions, so is perfect both for this weather and for my east-facing ‘cool shades’ border.
The flower has an intensity of colour between blue and violet that I find very appealing, and it has tightly packed clusters of buds, promising a reasonably long flowering period. It makes a nice upright mound of foliage, about 70 cm high.
I’ve combined it with the white dazzle of sweet woodruff, Galium odoratum, which is enthusiastically spreading, some young Japanese forest grass, Hakonechloa macra (I like a bit of lime green in a shady border) and higher up, Aconite.
Geranium himalayense ‘Gravetye’ is a strong blue, with large cup-shaped flowers that have violet veins and striking black stamens. I think this one does well with a bit more sun – I’ve got it at the top end of my front path border, where it’s in lightly dappled shade. It was found growing in Turkestan; the ‘Gravetye’ refers to Gravetye Manor, the English country home of a nineteenth century garden writer named William Robinson.
I like the contrast of blue and orange, so here I’ve combined it with Geum ‘Scarlet Tempest’ which is another good bloomer for this time of year. The Geum is a bit sprawly and lanky, but that means that the flowers intermingle with the low growing Geranium’s quite nicely.
It looks like more gorilla gardening for me until the weather improves, which it’s supposed to do towards the end of this week. Will we finally be soaking up some sunshine? I live in hope.
Geraniums are such obliging plants in the garden!
Yes, I agree Paddy, am very fond of them, these two are among my favourites.
Geraniums are the mainstay of my garden, along with ferns. I do like your Geum combination.
Ferns are so lovely too, I’ve recently bought two new ones, just to ring the changes (as I’ve got loads of the shuttlecock fern, loves it here). Which ones do you grow?
Mostly Hart’s Tongue ferns, but several others, mostly unknown. I wrote a post about them last year:
https://cornwallincolours.blog/2020/05/02/six-on-saturday-may-day/
That’s a really sweet woodland border you’ve got. I’ve recently been given a Hart’s Tongue, hope it multiplies! I also bought two new ferns but I can’t tell you what they are at the moment, have to say I have real difficulty remembering the names of ferns 😉
I love these early geraniums and the combination with geums is a winner. I think we may get sunshine soon, we live in hope.
It’s looking good for the weekend, I might even dare to plan a bbq!!
Although we are not so happy with all that rain, it is very clear that your flowers in your garden enjoy it very much ….
I’ve noticed that I accept, maybe even tolerate, the rain more since becoming a gardener…but of course some sunshine and warmth would be nice too!
I love the geraniums with the geum. I think I need to invest in some geraniums to go with my own geum!
Thanks, I’d like to say I planned it but I probably just plonked the plants there and was pleasantly surprised with the result! Absolutely, I think they work well together.
I am going to seek out that woodland geranium for my front garden. What a gem! It will do v. nicely with our dark geranium phaeum. Your geraniums and geums look wonderful.
Thanks. 🙂 I think it would be good with G. phaeum, I’ve got some nearby but still young, looking forward to it growing!
The intense blue and irange combination is lovely Sel. 😃 Same weather here… can’t wait for the wind to drop and the sun to shine longer than five minutes at a time! LOL!
I know, it’s nice to have the short sunny spells, but they are pretty short, aren’t they?! I went out earlier to see what was going on, and was shocked to see a foxglove about to flower that I hadn’t even noticed grow!! 5 minute gardening.
Love your delphiniums in the main photo too Sel! We have just moved to a new home with a small garden that is basically all lawn. So we are having great fun creating a brand new wildlife-friendly garden.
Thanks Denzil, well they are actually Aconites but they are a kind of delphinium substitute for me – I tried delphiniums last year and they were lovely, but not a trace remains this year, I think the slugs got to them first (and let’s face it, it’s been a great season for the slugs). What a fun and exciting project you have ahead of you, nothing like a clean slate!
Yeah, although likely to be expensive. I can’t resist the weekly market with its plant stall. Thanks for correcting me. Are aconites bee friendly too?
They are indeed bee friendly as they are rich in nectar. But do be careful, they are a highly poisonous plant, used to make poison in the past, so not recommended if you have a dog, young children etc. Larkspur might be a safer alternative, I’m trying it for the first time this year.
Thanks for the warning. No dogs or children. Just a wife!
My husband was quite concerned when he found out what I had at my disposal 😆
Thanks Denzil, well they are actually Aconites but they are a kind of delphinium substitute for me – I tried delphiniums last year and they were lovely, but not a trace remains this year, I think the slugs got to them first (and let’s face it, it’s been a great season for the slugs). What a fun and exciting project you have ahead of you, nothing like a clean slate!
I love blue Geraniums! I am not familiar with either of these but they look great, especially with that orange Geum!
I’ve just noticed Brookside coming into flower too, more blue! Is yours flowering?
Just starting.
Your garden is looking amazing! I’m longing after some of your rain… it’s very very dry here in California. Very soothing to see your beautiful and wet garden! Thanks!
Yes what a contrast. Though we complain about the rain here, it’s a pleasure to see the plants enjoying it, and weeding is so easy, the earth is so soft. A bit more sunshine would be nice though 😉