Chelsea 2012: The Laurent-Perrier Bicentenary Garden

Arne Maynard’s romantic Laurent Perrier garden was one of our favourites at Chelsea, and deservedly won a Gold Medal.

Chelsea 2012: The Brewin Dolphin Garden, by Cleve West

This Gold Medal winner was also voted Best Show Garden by the RHS judges, and was certainly a very accomplished, beautiful and sophisticated garden, full of nice touches.

Geranium Cantabrigiense Biokovo

If you want a pink, delicate and girlie geranium - then try G. Cantabrigiense Biokovo it's a real sweetie.

It is low growing (about 10-20cm tall) so, makes great ground cover. It gently spreads itself, but it isn't a thug, you'll find it easy to keep under control.

We bought a couple of small pots from a garden centre because we noticed that of all the plants around, the bees were choosing this one.

Incoming!

From those two small pots we've increased to two patches in our raised bed (to make it easy to dead head them to prolong its flowering period), a patch on the green roof and a few pots for our neighbour.

Last autumn I gave up on our strawberries - when I realised that the local squirrel was eating more of them than we were. So, the strawberry towers were emptied and filled with this little pink geranium. It has looked great for weeks.

Ken Muir strawberry tower

Seeds are starting to develop (top) with flower buds 

A bit raggedy - you can clearly see scratch marks on the petals from the bees claws

 

Of course the flowers fade eventually, but that isn't the end. If it is looking a bit leggy you could give it a trim, however you shouldn't be too hasty. The leaves turn from green to beautiful autumnal colours - it can happen almost as soon as it stops flowering, but even if it doesn't, it is worth the wait. 

The final gift from this great little geranium is the smell. The flowers don't have much of a scent. But the leaves have a gentle lemony smell which is released if you brush against the foliage or do the dead heading.

Green leaves will turn autumnal once flowering is done

Geranium Cantabrigiense Biokovo is named after Mount Biokovo in Croatia, where in 1990 the plant was discovered as a natural spontaneous hybrid.

Geranium Himalayense Gravetye

Geranium Himalayense Gravetye is a beautiful bluey-purple geranium with large bowl-shaped flowers that have a white centre and dark veins. It holds a AGM (Award of Garden Merit) from the RHS.

It is low growing, no more than about 50cm, and spreads about 60-100cm. It's hardy, likes full sun or partial shade and well drained soil (but can grow in pretty much any situation). It can flower between May and September. It may not flower for very long (in our garden with so many bees about it gets about two to three weeks initially as the flowers go to seed quickly), but can flower a second time if cut back after the first flowering.

This year it has been disappointing - all leaves and not many flowers.


Geraniums are sometimes known as Cranesbill or Crane's Bill, because that is what their seed pods can look like (something that is very evident on this variety) and usually have attractive foliage that goes a nice colour in autumn - or earlier, as the colour can emerge anytime after they have stopped flowering.

Geranium - Mrs Kendall Clarke

We have several geraniums in the garden, including: Geranium Cantabrigiense Biokovo,  G. Gravetye and G. Mrs Kendall Clarke. Geraniums are an ideal choice for a bee-friendly garden, because honey bees, solitary bees and bumblebees all love them, they are easy to grow, and produce lots of flowers.

Geranium Mrs Kendall Clarke

Mrs Kendall Clarke has an AGM (award of garden merit) from the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society). This means it should be a reliable plant to grow, no bad habits or nasty diseases.

It will give you masses of pale blue flowers with white veins. It is happy in full sun or partial shade and should flower throughout the summer (starting in early to mid June).

13th June 2010

We love it because our bees love it too. They are happily visiting every flower and stocking up on nectar.

It will self seed - so, you could save a few if you want to propagate it around the garden. Alternatively deadhead on a regular basis (to encourage repeated flowering) and increase stock by dividing the plant in spring or autumn.

Once it has finished flowering it can be cut back and will produce more foliage. It will take a couple of years to fill out, with a spread of about 50cm (and 40-50cm height).