Hardly a hardy Geranium? By Deirdre Prince

Deirdre tells us all about her unexpected love for this alternative species of Geranium.

I first fell in love with hardy Geraniums purely by accident. About twenty years ago, during my first venture into mail-order plants, I thought I had ordered Penstemon Garnet, a wonderful ruby red perennial but apparently the nursery had run-out of them and what arrived was a hardy Geranium, a plant I had not ordered nor wanted.

At the time, I wasn’t familiar with this plant species. I had only ever heard of the annual Geranium, the species planted in hanging baskets and window boxes. The small package which arrived had no further information on the species, not a mention of what its needs were or how it was going to grow. I had no idea what to expect or whether I would actually like this new trespasser in my garden. Time passed and I learned just how tough this plant was and soon, it was happily settling in to my garden, filling any gap in the bed with its bright pink flowers. It was a slow burner of a relationship. I think I only tolerated it at first but gradually I grew (pun intended) to love this species and this started an addiction which has not waned.

Read more in the August issue…