Reviewed By COLIN SKELLY
Colin is a Horticulturist and Horticultural Consultant with experience in a range of practical and managerial roles across heritage, commercial and public horticulture. He holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Master of Horticulture award and has a particular interest in horticultural ecology and naturalistic planting for habitat and climate resilience.
Contributions From SUZIE DEWEY
Suzie is the Owner of the Hardy Geranium Nursery. She grew for two of the Main Avenue Show Gardens for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 - the gardens both won gold and one received Best in Show. She has also completed her RHS Level 3 Qualification.
Gary is the Owner of Cranesbill Nursery. He worked as a Gardener at the five star ‘Sails in the Desert’ hotel at Ayer’s Rock Resort in the outback and as a Gardener at the 17th Century National Trust property, Moseley Old Hall.
IN THIS GUIDE
- Expert-Chosen Varieties
- 1) G. ‘Gerwat’
- 2) G. robertianum
- 3) G. maculatum
- 4) G. ‘Melinda’
- 5) G. x cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’
- 6) G. cinereum
- 7) G. arboreum
- 8) G. ‘Danny Boy’
- 9) G. ‘Dreamland’
- 10) G. clarkei ‘Kashmir White’
- 11) G. ‘Orion’
- 12) G. ‘Mavis Simpson’
- 13) G. ‘Ann Folkard’
- 14) G. nodosum
- 15) G. pratense ‘Mrs. Kendall Clark’
- References
The Geranium genus consists of hundreds of species and cultivars.
First, though Geraniums themselves are very easy to grow and care for, many varieties make life tough for weeds, tending to stifle them!
Next, the habits and forms of the many varieties cover the gamut of mat-forming, creeping, mounding, clumping, bushy, spreading, erect, and upright; naturally, therefore, varieties’ heights range from a mere 12cm to well over a full metre.
Finally, a thumping 57 varieties have been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
In this list we share fifteen of our favourite varieties to grow in the UK, but first – here are some of our expert’s favourites to grow:
Expert-Chosen Varieties
“I love Geranium psilostemon for its punch of colour, shape and height,” shares award-winning Garden Designer Manoj Maldé.
“It also gives a second flush of blooms, which I love.”
We also spoke with Gary Carroll from Cranesbill Nursery and Suzie Dewey from The Hardy Geranium Nursery to ask which of the many Geranium varieties they grow stand out as their favourites.
“There are some types that are a bit more fussy than others; for example the cinereums which are the little alpine types, really need good drainage and need to be in full sun to thrive.” says Gary.
“The pratenses need to be in full sun, but they need consistently moist soil, as do the phaeums, however these can tolerate sun or shade.
“But it’s really not difficult to find the ideal plant for your situation and there’s usually plenty of choice.”
So which are Gary’s favourites?
G. himalayense ‘Kaya’
“My overall favourite Geranium is one called ‘Kaya’.
“It’s a himalayense type but it has red/bronze and green foliage. The flowers are a lovely deep blue and I think the contrast is just gorgeous.”
G. wlassovianum
“I also love the wlassovianums for their foliage. They have nice purple flowers but the foliage is a copper-tinged green and the shape of it is very architectural.
“Plus it feels nice and soft to the touch! There’s wlassovianum itself and varieties like ‘Lakwijk Star’ and ‘Crug Farm’.”
G. sanguineum
Then my other favourite type are the sanguineums.
These come in a variety of colours from white to pink and many shades of cerise/magenta.
They’re a simple plant but very pretty and really easy to grow, plus their foliage is quite different to most other Geraniums and I find it very handsome!
Probably my favourite varieties of these would be ‘Hannelore’, ‘New Hampshire Purple’ and the variation striatum.
Suzie’s favourites are the Phaeum species:
G. phaeum
“It’s hard for me to pick specific favourites, there are so many geraniums I enjoy for many different reasons.
“[But] I love the whole of the phaeum species. The flower colours range from dark red (almost black) to the palest of pinks, they are vigorous and take no time at all to bulk up and provide a great springtime display taking over from your winter bulbs.
“I especially like ‘Wendy’s Blush’. Her flowers are delicate pale pink, almost white, with a purple halo in the centre, as the flowers mature they turn to a beautiful blush pink.
“A gorgeous geranium bred by Andre Ekkelbloom and named for his wife.”
G. renardii
“Another that I really enjoy and for me, I feel like it heralds spring, is G. renardii.
“Its glaucous, heavily textured foliage is unusual compared to the majority of geranium species and when the large white flowers open it feels like they’re making an announcement ‘Winter is almost over, spring is coming’.”
Here are 15 further varieties which are favourites of our editorial team:
1) G. ‘Gerwat’
![purple flowers of of G. ‘Gerwat’ or G. [Rozanne]](https://horticulture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/3-10.jpg)
Why not open our run-through of selected varieties with one of the most renowned and most-desired varieties of any plant, G. ‘Gerwat’, also known as G. ‘Rozanne’.
A winner of awards on both sides of the Atlantic, it is a recipient of the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Getting on the shortlist for the RHS Plant of the Centenary at the Chelsea Flower Show for the decade 1993-2002, it was the outright winner of the public vote.1RHS plant of the centenary. (2013, April 24). The Guardian. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2013/apr/24/rhs-plant-centenary
It was also the Perennial Plant Association’s Plant of the Year for 2008.2Perennial Plant Of The Year. (n.d.). Perennial Plant Association. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://perennialplant.org/page/PastPPOY
Even by exalted Geranium standards, this variety is a vigorous and trouble-free variety and is known as a prolific bloomer over an unusually long flowering season that begins in spring and continues through autumn.
It has a matching height and spread of 50-60cm.
The remarkably pretty 5cm flowers have a whitish centre, and purple venation running through true violet petals.
2) G. robertianum
‘Herb Robert’ is known by numerous colloquial names.
“Often removed as a weed from the garden, I always leave a few because it really is a very attractive plant and often looks ‘right’ where it sows itself,” says Colin Skelly, a Consultant and Horticulturist.
It is a very important species in Naturopathy and is native to the British Isles.
The leaves are unusual in being so heavily dissected as to be palmate.
The small disk-shaped flower is a magenta-pink with scarlet-puple veins, sometimes broad or blotchy.
It grows to about 30cm high and wide.
3) G. maculatum
This variety has a clumping form and grows to about 50cm with a width of about 40cm.
Though it has a relatively brief blooming season by Geranium norms, the breathtakingly lovely flowers make up for it.
The salver-shaped blooms have a white centre and are a pale, baby pink shade on which the yellow anthers deliver a striking contrast.
It is native to the United States and several wonderful cultivars have been developed from it, like G. maculatum ‘Elizabeth Ann’, an RHS Award of Garden Merit recipient.
4) G. ‘Melinda’
This also has a clumping form and with the same height and width as G. maculatum.
It blooms in summer and autumn.
Its purple venation is so unusually prominent and patterned on the pinkish-white petals that it lends the flower a classical delicacy and fragility, bringing to mind Victorian Era porcelain showpieces.
5) G. x cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’
This geranium variety makes do with full sun to full shade, has a prolonged blooming season, and has a mat-forming habit, growing to only 15-20cm.
As such it is a top choice for groundcover, especially as the disk-shaped flowers of a solid bright lilac-pink hue are both acutely pretty and fragrant.
6) G. cinereum
Another mat-forming variety with a height similar to G. x cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’ and nearly matching its long blooming season, making it too a top choice for groundcover and rock gardens.
But flower-wise it is similar to G. ‘Melinda’ as its blooms too are very fragile and refined.
The petals’ distal ends have a deep notch and on their pinkish-white base runs a delicate network of purple veins.
As with G. maculatum – to repeat ourselves – several wonderful cultivars have been developed from it, for example, G. cinereum ‘Ballerina’, an RHS Award of Garden Merit recipient.
7) G. arboreum
Otherwise known as ‘Hawaii Red Cranesbill’, this is an endangered species that has an official status of ‘Critically Imperilled’ and, sadly, is on the road to extinction, at least in the wild.3Hawai’i Red Cranesbill (Geranium arboreum). (n.d.). iNaturalist Canada. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/163254-Geranium-arboreum
It grows only in a few gulches in Maui.
At 2-3.7m in height, it is a giant among Geraniums.
The flower is even more unusual; it is of a brilliant magenta-red hue with curled and furled petals, the only ones to exhibit this trait among Geraniums.
8) G. ‘Danny Boy’
Exhibits an extraordinary spreading habit that is open and not dense.
Though it is a respectable 50cm high, it spreads to 1.5m and may span even 2m.
It blooms throughout summer, putting on a colour spectacle with its vivid and vibrant purple flowers whose venation comprises of mere streaks in a shifted tone of purple.
Other varieties that are well worth looking into include:
9) G. ‘Dreamland’
10) G. clarkei ‘Kashmir White’
11) G. ‘Orion’
12) G. ‘Mavis Simpson’
13) G. ‘Ann Folkard’
14) G. nodosum
15) G. pratense ‘Mrs. Kendall Clark’
A few of these are RHS Award of Garden Merit recipients while others are under-rated and unsung, but all feature breathtakingly beautiful flowers.
