"Alla Bezroutchko" wrote in message
...
Sacha, thanks for your help.

Sacha wrote:
You can propagate by division and by seed, though with seed you might get
some variation but that adds to the interest! G. Jolly Bee seems to grow
and spread very quickly.

Is there any trick to collecting and germinating geranium seeds? When is
the best time to collect them?

G. Ann Folkard is one of my favourites - a fabulous magenta colour and I
really like G. Mourning Widow. That said, G. Jolly Bee is one of the
best
around and goes on flowering far longer and better than G. Johnson's
Blue,
IME. Depending on where you live, you could try G. palmatum and if you
live
in a hot, dry climate, you could give G. maderense a go.

Thanks for recommendations. Does Ann Folkard have a lot of flowers on
it? Mourning Widow looks like just what I need in the back of a shady
border.

Ann Folkard is indeed a very good plant but it is unusual for hardy
geraniums in that it scrambles around. You end up with bits poking up among
neighbouring plants, up to a metre away. It is derived from a cross between
?? G.psilostemum (I think; probably forgotten/got that wrong) and G.
procurrens (probably got that wrong too). The former has big vivid purple
flowers with dark centres for ages and the latter spreads and is invasive.
The hybrid Ann Volkard has the big vivid flowers and they keep going all
season and spreads out but is not at all invasive. In fact, we found it
hard to propagate; we had to divide it very carefully; maybe divide one
plant into 2 every second year. It looks GREAT growing among yellow
Crocosmia or as a pot plant where it will send flowering shoots quite a
distance away. It has lots of flowers and for ages but they are spread out.

Des in Dublin (with Ann Folkard in the front garden; having moved it with us
from our last 2 house moves)



I think G. palmatum and G. maderense wouldn't do very well here in
Belgium. It is not exactly hot and dry here.

Alla.