Gardening News - Geum Totally Tangerine

Gardens in May should still be full of the lush green growth of Spring with plants sending out fresh green foliage daily. There is plenty of moisture in the ground too which makes it a great time for planting as any new additions will have time to establish well before the heat of the summer.  With The Malvern Sping Gardening Show and Chelsea both being held this month it’s also a great time for Gardening Shows too.  If you are stuck for inspiration, then I would thoroughly recommend a trip to either where you will find plenty of ideas than can be transported back into your own gardens.

Plant of the Month: Geum Totally Tangerine
Every now and again a plant gets into the groundwater of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and pops up over and over again. Geum Totally Tangerine would be one of them. With its reliable nature and, floriferous bright orange zingy flowers it is totally understandable why.

Geum Totally Tangerine develops attractive mounds of deep-green, fuzzy pinnately lobed leaves. It blooms slightly later than many of the geum cultivars, but unlike most, flowering continues through the heat of summer. With the flowers being sterile, it continues to bloom and bloom, producing hundreds of warm, bright-apricot to tangerine-orange single flowers over the course of the growing season.

In domestic gardens, Geum Totally Tangerine is a chunky mid-to-back of the border plant where it will grow to about 3ft (90cm), given reasonable soil and a sunny position. It does not need much looking after. As It is a sterile hybrid it doesn’t seed itself around the place and just needs a little deadheading  every now to keep it in check. (Take off the whole flower stem though, don’t just cut the top off as the spent stems die back ungracefully). It doesn’t need staking either, making it a perfect addition to any low maintenance scheme.

Geum Totally tangerine is a relatively new addition to the gardening market with Hardys Cottage Garden Plants releasing it on the market in 2010. It is the result of a deliberate crossing of Geum rivale (female parent) and Geum chiloense ‘Mrs. Bradshaw” (male parent) by Timothy Crowther in 1999 at his nursery in West Sussex. It grows well in most soils but does like a bit of moisture during the summer, it will also cope with a bit of shade too – just not too much!

This geum is perfect in bold and bright colour schemes, mixing equally well with rudbeckia for late season colour and with anchusa earlier in the year. It is ultra-adaptable. It looks as good with yellows as it does with blues and is fantastic against Sambucus Black Lace  and other purple shrubby plants.  It can also be mixed with white where the effect is surprisingly subtle. One of my all time favourite combinations would be a simple pairing with Salvia Purple Rain  - cant get much better than that. 

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 any damaged growth.
• Spray roses with rose clear or similar.
• Weed
• Continue to remove spent flowers of spring bulbs but not the foliage until it has 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 in April.
• 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 necessary
• If daffs gave a poor show lift and 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 degrees.
• Sow pumpkins, cucumbers, courgettes, squashes under cover now and outdoors towards the end of the month.