Gardening Journal: Plant of the Month: Geranium Patricia.

May often seems like the beginning of the summer, however it is a month where you can still see evidence of spring in our gardens too. The leaves on the trees are yet to be scorched by the heat of the summer and there is often a chill in the air in the early mornings and evenings.

However, May also offers a little hope with a glimpse of what June has to offer in floral abundance. It’s a time for extravagance with the big gardening shows kicking off the show season providing us with plenty of ideas for own gardens. While budgets may not be on the same scale with a little creativity and imagination you will be surprised what can be achieved in a small suburban plot.
We all know a good hardy geranium and probably all have at least one in our gardens too. There are so many to choose from that it’s hard to decide which one to go for. In my opinion there are only a handful of truly great geraniums and Patricia would be one of them.

Geranium Patricia is a big muscular plant that can grow to nearly 1M (3ft) high and wide. It flowers with abundance with masses of screaming magenta flowers covering the fresh green foliage. While this sounds a little gaudy the dark eye in each flower tones down the effect and the flowers themselves are scattered over its foliage which provide a calming backdrop of green. Highly-bred flowers can often be visually over the top, but Patricia imitates its wild cousins so well that it would suit the lush valleys of its home in the Caucasus as well as our gardens in the UK. Geranium Patricia appeared when it was crossed with Geranium endressii and Geranium psilostemon. The result of which has produced a hybrid that has slightly lighter flowers than the psilostemon, flowers for longer too, is not so big and retains the smaller and spreading nature of endressii.

Geraniums generally form neat mounds of growth, steadily expanding until they flower in late spring to early summer. Patricia has several advantages over some of the more common cranesbills as it is less likely to collapse in an untidy heap after flowering and, while large, does not spread as vigorously and does not need a huge border to call home. It also does not scatter aggressive little seedlings all over the place either.

All geraniums benefit from fertile, moist well-drained soil. It will grow in poor soils, but you will lose some of the flowering vigour and they generally won’t grow as a large. It thrives in sunlight but will take a little shade too and, once its established, is easily cultivated by division in spring.

Geranium Patricia works well in any border, but I particularly like it with the pale blues of Veronica and greenish yellows like Euphorbia and Alchemillia. It also looks great snaking amongst the lower foliage of something like Sambucus Black Lace, with the purple leaves creating a dramatic backdrop for the intense flowers of the Geranium. Patricia is reliable, easy to grow and provides long-lasting colour for any garden. What more could you want for your borders?

Jobs to be doing this month include:
Ornamental Garden:
• This month is a fast period of growth. Late frosts may catch early blooms and soft growth - remove.
• Spray roses with rose clear or similar.
• Weed.
• Continue to remove spent flowers of spring bulbs     but not foliage until withered and yellowed.
• Chelsea-chop time – If the Nepeta and Sedums are looking leggy then cutback by a third to encourage compact growth that will not collapse later in the season. This can be applied to the lavender, echinops, Echinacea, aster, helenium and salvia too if felt necessary.
• Trim Rosemary, Thyme and Sage if not done.
• Cutback withered daffodil or tulip stems once they have turned yellow.
• Trim grass edges of borders regularly to keep neat and tidy.
• Prune spring flowering clematis.
• Stake and support herbaceous perennials.
• If daffodils gave a poor show lift, divide bulbs and replant.
• Continue deadheading spring bulbs.
• Start hardening off tender plants for planting out.

Vegetable Garden:
• Harvest Asparagus
• Direct sow french beans and sweet corn if weather is warm enough.
• Start earthing up potatoes.
• Harvest early crops such as radish/lettuce etc.
• Refrain from planting tomatoes too early as they suffer if exposed to temperatures below 12°C.
• Sow pumpkins, cucumbers, courgettes, squashes under cover now and outdoors towards the end of the month.