Geums have been one of the talked about plants at Chelsea in the last few years – the orange coloured ‘Prinses Juliana’ (height 60cm, spread 50cm), flowers May – July, and ‘Totally Tangerine’ (height 75cm, spread 50cm) flowers April – September, giving a burst of colour to show gardens. But any plant that flowers up to 22 weeks of the summer makes me sit up and take notice. A real stalwart of the flower border.
I have been making a wish list of plants for my own garden and Geums have definitely been added to my list. They are low maintenance, with a neat habit and evergreen foliage and provide ground cover. Slugs and snails hate them. Good both for cut flowers and their seed heads. Just cut the flower spikes down in the autumn. Give them a moisture retentive soil and don’t let them dry out (or you will lose them) and they will flower away for weeks. After a three to four years you may have to dig them up and divide them as with many herbaceous plants – but you will have many weeks of flowers as your reward.
Flower colours – orange and red to add some real zing to your plant borders, see G. ‘Lemon Drops’ (height 30cm, spread 45cm) flowers in May and June. Or for a bolder yellow, how about G. ‘Lady Stratheden’ (height 50cm, spread 45cm) flowers June – August. For red look at G. ‘Red Wings’ (height 60cm, spread 40cm), flowers May – July.
For a gorgeous peach and apricot ruffled flower, have a look at G. ‘Cosmopolitan’ (height 60cm, spread 45cm), flowers May – July, one of a new range of Geums being introduced by a nursery in America called the Cocktail Range. Some others in the range with eye-catching names are ‘Alabama Slammer’ and ‘Tequila Sunrise’.
Finally, there are 3 groups of Geums and they like different conditions. G. rivale cultivars thrive in shady spots – looking good with Pulmonarias and Hellebores, see G. rivale ‘Album’ or rivale ‘Leonard’s Variety’. The coccineum cultivars like partial shade, try G. ‘Borisii’ Geum chiloense are from Chile, clump formers, with a long flowering period and happy in sun. So choose the right one for your garden and enjoy their show.