I really love watching the bees at work around the nursery and will frequently find myself helping them out of the tunnels with my trusty butterfly net or finding a food source for one that has become weary. I was especially pleased to discover that a hive of bumble bees has set up home in an abandoned rabbit burrow in the hedgerow at the nursery.
You probably recall the occurrence of Ash dieback disease (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus), which also originated on the continent and became present in the UK after infected tree stocks were imported. Over the last year or so you may have heard about a disease spreading throughout the continent called Xylella or Xylella fastidiosa to give it its name in full, unfortunately there is again a real risk to plants here in the UK of being under attack from a foreign disease. Fortunately, governing bodies such as DEFRA and the APHA, Animal and Plant Health Agency, are ahead of the curve on this threat and are working hard to prevent this disease entering the UK by introducing stringent controls.
Unlike the blues, pinks and purples the white geraniums don’t come in different shades, they’re generally, simply and purely white. They can have broad petals or narrow petals or rounded petals and some may have a lacework of veins across them, but they don’t come in different shades. You may find some white varieties will turn pink as they mature or go over but they are in essence white.
Trailing geraniums are also often referred to as sprawling or scrambling due to their nature of sending out long prostrate stems that weave their way through other plants in the border. These stems produce both flowers and leaves and can have quite a far reach.
Low growing geraniums come in many different forms, creeping, trailing, mat forming, clump forming, but the one thing they have in common is that they are shorter in stature than some of their counterparts.
There are so many geranium species suitable for any location and situation that I think it could be possible to plant a whole garden with just geraniums and have flower and foliar interest for at least 10 months of the year.
