Hardy Geraniums - Hardcover

Yeo, Peter F.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881925411 ISBN 13: 9780881925418

Publisher: Timber Pr, 2002

Synopsis

The garden-worthiness of hardy geraniums, or cranesbills, is often underestimated. Their cheerful flowers, intricate foliage, and versatility all call for them to be used more in the garden landscape.

This new, updated version of a classic work offers full descriptions of more than 140 types of geranium, covering their natural geographical distribution and details of their varieties and hybrids. It provides a wealth of information on the history, nomenclature, classification, behavior, and use in cultivation of these beautiful and varied plants.

Illustrated with over 50 color photographs and many more line drawings, including silhouettes of the different leaf forms, this unique book provides a complete study of hardy geraniums for all those involved in gardening, botany, and horticulture.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Yeo was a taxonomist at the University Gardens, Cambridge, until his retirement in 1993. He is a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and a contributing author for many books on natural history and botany. He has also written numerous articles and notes on cultivated plants.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Almost all cranesbills except the alpines will do well in light shade; many, but not all, will also tolerate full sun. Their range of uses in the garden is, therefore, considerable. In the herbaceous border G. pratense is the tallest and its pale-flowered cultivars, such as 'Silver Queen' and 'Mrs Kendall Clark', and the doubles are all valuable; flowering is mainly in July and is reasonably prolonged. Its hybrid, 'Johnson's Blue' is less tall and, being sterile, goes on for longer but eventually becomes straggly. The king of the cranesbills is surely G. ibericum x G. platypetalum (= G. x magnificum), less tall than G. pratense, and earlier, with a brief concentration display of purplish-veined violet flowers; it too is sterile and I have never seen a repeat flowering, though the leaves colour well in autumn. Near the front of the border the slightly creeping (some say invasive) G. himalayense throws up its great blue flowers above a mass of foliage in June, then again later, sporadically until October.

Early in the season the more modest performances of the Phaeum Group, with generally sombre flowers but sometimes interesting leaves, and G. macrorrhizum, in its various colour forms, may be appreciated in the border. G. psilostemon 'Bressingham Flair' is also a good border plant, being a little more compact and floriferous than the typical form, and though the flowers are rich pink with a dark centre, they are less fiercely coloured than in the latter. When Geranium is grown in the border, it may be found worthwhile to cut off the inflorescences when the end of flowering approaches. In many cases (but not that of G. x magnificum) this will encourage a second flowering. Most species and hybrids suitable for the border throw up a fresh crop of basal leaves just as flowering ends, which will cover any stubs left after tidying-up.

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881925411
• ISBN 13: 9780881925418
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 218