Cranesbill
Geranium 'Jolly Bee'
(jer-AY-nee-um)
Synonyms: Hardy Geranium
Seems weird not to be posting some rose pictures. I was going to start calling this blog Digital Rose Pictures.com for awhile but now it is back to the regularly scheduled content. Seriously, the Rose Festival was a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun and a learning experience for me. I still have a few rose pictures left over that I will probably be posting one at a time over the next few weeks.
I am not sure where I took the picture of today’s flower. I do know it was a couple of weeks ago, so it really can bloom May to frost. I haven’t grown this particular cultivar before but do have several other cultivars of Hardy Geranium and love them. It is a low growing, no fuss perennial that can become almost like a groundcover if it is happy and has the right conditions. Some of those conditions are a rich, moist organic soil with good drainage. It will adapt to a lot of different areas including sandy, dry and normal soils. I grow this plant in Connecticut in both partial shade (almost full shade) and full sun. Southern gardeners may want to provide a bit of afternoon protection. This cultivar is considered to be one of the largest flowered and most heat tolerant of its class. The flowers are fragrant but I have never smelled them, that is something I will have to try. The flowers get different shadings of blue through violet as you can see from this picture. It makes it a little more interesting.
Photo showing the different colored flowers of Hardy Geranium 'Jolly Bee'.If my clumps start to look a little ratty I shear them down to promote bushy growth and a second wave of flowering. Another nice thing about these plants is the wonderful fall colors the deeply cut foliage gets, a good mixture of orange, red and yellow. Good news is the deer don’t really bother this plant. So in general I would recommend this plant for mass planting, mixed borders and it makes a great edger. Even if you don’t like Geraniums give it a try, as it is very different from the traditional flower.
I am not sure what I am going to do today. It was suppose to be real windy here but the morning has revealed a clam day, which makes it much easier to get some flower shots. The foliage isn’t very good so far around here as our mini-drought has kind of washed it out. Speaking of drought I guess it is over as we had 5.75 inches (!) of rain in about 3 hours the other night. It rained about as hard as I have ever seen it here. It was localized and the estate got hit hard with some flooding and erosion. I guess I know what I will doing for the first part of next week.
5 comments:
This is beautiful. Forgive me obvious ignorance, but do these geraniums bloom with just a flew blossoms?
I was in Torrington and Litchfield today, and there were some very impressive maples about. They stood so tall and grand, they seemed to say no drought no time would keep them from their colors.
I surprised we didn't run into each other as I was up in Litchfield today too. There were a few pockets of good color here and there but most of it looked washed out to me. Maybe I am jaded.
After seeing these pics I need to get some geraniums! I loved your festival of roses. There was so much information and great photos, it's wonderful to know that the writer and readers both learned.
Back to the Jolly Bee Geranium. It's a wonderful color. I love how there are different shades of blue and purple. Those different colors are such a special feature. I want one!
vanillalotus, go for it. It is a nice little plant that flowers in several unique shades.
That geranium seems to be a very nice one especially when there are different shades of blue/purple on a single plant. I never really looked at hardy geraniums until this year and I always associated them with the stinky annual but I see I've given them short shrift and need to make amends by purchasing a few. :)
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