"Max Frei" Geranium

I was asked by a fellow blogger the other day if I had any geraniums that seeded all over the place.  Well, I do, it is Max.  I find him in many different areas of the garden some quite far away from where he was first planted.  At first I was quite shocked because I thought I had planted this beautiful little mound of magenta flowers, and now he has morphed into a much more leggy variety of himself.

My first impulse was to yank every bit of this alien that I could find.  But, I restrained myself and watched his offspring grow throughout the seasons.  They sported flowers that looked identical to Max's but their growth was much more sprawling.  I found I could live with it, and cut them back if they became too untamed.

Max Frei is a lovely little geranium, growing in mounds throughout the spring, summer and fall.  It is flush with magenta flowers in the spring and can be lightly trimmed to keep a pleasing shape.   This trimming can be done more than once during the seasons producing a limited display up until frost.  It is not a rival to Rozanne but is perfect along a walkway as it never becomes out of bounds.

A Rose Worth FInding

I began the planting area on the walkway from my patio with three Pink Meidiland roses.  I did not know much about them at the time except that they were shrub roses which meant carefree to me.  They grew well the first year, beautiful deep peachy pink flowers with branches that looked like they would like to weave if they could. 

The following year only two plants returned.  Not overly concerned and thankful that I had two left, I headed back to the nursery to replace one Pink Meidiland only to be informed that they were no longer available from the supplier.  I headed to the internet and to my amazement, there was only one nursery that had it listed.  At the same time I decided to order some Rainbow Knockouts and the one Pink Meidiland.  I was informed by return email that this nursery no longer had this Pink Meidiland - same story supplier no longer growing this rose!

I was so upset that nobody had this great rose, I emailed back to Garden Valley Ranch in California and told my sad story, but to no avail.  I did receive my Rainbow Knockout bareroot roses, and all of them are thriving to this day.  But what I didn't tell you is that as I opened the box, wrapped in newspaper, was a fourth bareroot rose.  As I unwrapped it out popped a little note saying, "Pink Meidiland, it's all yours."  I really think the owner of the nursery dug it up from his garden!

It is very difficult to find but I did notice on this California website that there are still some available. http://www.gardenvalley.com/  I can't imagine why they have virtually taken it off the market being as carefree as it is, no blackspot, wonderful rosehips in the fall and shiny leaves.

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More Geraniums!

I am not sure geraniums like to move.  Six years ago I moved Geranium Magnificum and Geranium Sanguinimum Lancastriense Striatum, three of each to my present home.  They each came up the following year, and I thought yeah!, they've made it.  However, for the past several years they are languishing, putting out a few flowers and then going to sleep for the season.  I even moved Magnificum again last year thinking it didn't like where it was.  It had no flowers last year, but I left it alone planted in between Rozanne.  It is supposed to bloom earlier than Rozanne and it is much taller, so I thought it would be a good pairing.

Magnificum did beautifully at my previous home, short bloom time but really spectacular flowers and wonderful red foliage (if cut back hard after blooming) in the fall.  Lancastrriense Striatum is low and ground hugging with beautiful pink flowers blooming throughout the spring and summer.  It is very restrained and contained, no weaving, no mounding acting more like a groundcover.  It seems to have taken but certainly not not growing by leaps and bounds.  It is not happy!  These are both wonderful geraniums, highly recommended but not flourishing at my home.

I think it is important to note that no matter how much we think we know about plants we cannot always understand how to make them happy.  I will try again this year, or maybe they will suprise me and finally accept their new home!

Is "Rozanne" A Winner For You?

This will be the fourth season for the Rozanne Perennial Geranium in my garden.  On the recommendation of a friend and a garden designer, I purchased three of them at a high-end nursery (they were the only one locally that carried this variety).  They were expensive about $20.00 each and bloomed beautifully the first year weaving through my impatiens.  I cannot remember what type of winter we had that year but only one came back and my friend lost all three of her Rozannes.  I guess it was a good thing that we both purchased them at this high-end nursery because they replaced all of our geraniums free of charge!

I planted my new ones a little higher on the edge of the bed because I thought maybe they became too wet.  They all came back the following year (very slow to show in the spring) and bloomed throughout three seasons.  Two years later, it was named The Plant of the Year for 2008.  The Rozannes I purchased last year for my daughter's garden were $7.99 at Home Depot.

Rozanne has been around quite awhile developed in Donald and Rozanne Waterer's garden in Somerset, England (1990).  It was introduced to the public in 2000 at the Chelsea Flower Show in England.

Even though Rozanne and I had a bit of a rocky start, it is certainly a winner in my garden for its heat tolerance its weaving nature and the fact that it blooms continually through three seasons.

An Almost Perfect Phlox

Blue Paradise, it sounds perfect doesn't it?  We would all like a little bit of paradise right now!  Phlox was very popular around the turn of the century but from the 1940's to the 1980's it fell out of favor for being too old fashioned.  Many of the cultivars were lost and nurseries and breeders have been trying ever since to bring back even better phlox varieties.

In 1990 Piet Oudolf introduced Blue Paradise Phlox, a native plant from the New England area, thrives in zones 4-8, up to four feet tall and mildew resistant.  It is a striking blue color and has a wonderful fragrance.  I have several locations of Blue Paradise Phlox, mostly peeking out or through other plantings, such as my Knockout Roses and Becky Shasta Daisies.  Blue Paradise blooms non-stop from June through October.  The more you deadhead, the more it blooms, more prolifically than any other phlox in my garden. including David.

It is a preferred plant at Millennium Park in Downtown Chicago and it is certainly a preferred plant in my garden!