Geranium 'Rozanne' | Davids Garden Diary

We are now at that inbetweeny stage in the Birch circle where the snowdrops have gone over, the early narcissus are flowering along with the Anemone blanda (when the sun shines!) Amazing to think that by June, all this foliage will be gone and there will just be 6 Geranium ‘Rozanne’ covering the composted bark.

Amongst them is Chionodoxa luciliae ‘Pink Giant’ which I rescued from the undergrowth during our first spring here back in 2009 and still going strong.

Gardening friends thought I was mad last year, for growing Camassias in pots, but I had dug them up from elsewhere in the garden and was undecided where to put them. It was a temporary solution but they did so well that I just left them in the pots and put them behind the shed with the gone over narcissus and tulips. Without any attention whatsoever, they survived and appear to have prospered. They are usually naturalised in damp grassland but they go very well next to late flowering yellow narcissus in pots! Rules are made to be broken!

Wild Primroses love the sticky clay in my garden and pop up everywhere. The couple of pink Primulas are not so gregarious and stay put. I had several more in various gaudy colours but they seem to have disappeared. I am never quite sure whether they are, in fact, a Polyanthus rather than a Primula. Perhaps some kind reader can help.

The fat buds of the pink flowered Tree Peony promise a good show in a few weeks time, along with the taller yellow Paeonia ludlowii which looks like it will be spectacular if a late frost doesn’t kill the buds. Definitely a potential SoS contender.

Erysimum ‘Red Jep’, a gift from a kind friend, will be flowering for many months, and will have another go after it has been trimmed back in mid-summer. Such good value plants.

Finally, barring a late frost which is likely to kill off the buds, the Wisteria sinensis ‘Prolific’ is showing signs of another fantastic display in April. Fingers firmly crossed!

Have a great weekend

David

‘A day late and a dollar short’ as the saying goes. I spent Saturday driving back from Sheffield and unexpectedly hit a massive diversion at Chesterfield which was only flagged up at the actual junction which was closed. Two hours and 44 miles later, I was on my way back on the M1. Not the way I hoped my weekend would start! However, Rosa ‘Jude the Obscure’ lifted my mood when I returned home. Impossibly gorgeous.

Rosa ‘Camille Pissarro’ jostling for position with Geranium ‘Rozanne’ and showing why she was named after an 19th Century French painter. I bet his apron was messy!

Talking of Geranium ‘Rozanne’, here she is in all her glory, creeping, crawling and shoving her way into every nook and cranny. One plant can easily travel 2m in all directions and neatly carpets the ground beneath roses and shrubs. However, she climbs too and often pops up amongst even the tallest flowers.

Clematis ‘Yukikomachi’ with her delicate lavender blue tints on pure white flowers is one of my favourite viticellas and is neat and tidy on a short, north facing trellis. Growing in a big pot in a shady position by the side gate which makes sure she gets admired several times a day.

This summer flowering Allium angulosum, or Mouse Garlic, is one of the best bee plants in the garden and flowers for weeks on end. It sits beside an ever-growing clump of Sapponaria (Soapwort) which is now untidy and spreading relentlessly towards the daylillies. Note to self: remove 75% of Sapponaria before it takes over! The towering white spikes of Lysimachia ephemerum mingle with the tall Veronica and Veronicastrums to add height and drama to the summer border.