Over 100 years ago, Karl von Frisch was the first person to conduct behavioural studies on honeybees, using classical conditioning techniques such as those used by Pavlov on his dogs. He trained honeybees to feed from a dish of sugar-water placed on blue-coloured card along with an array of different shades of grey card. His logic was that if a honeybee was colour-blind it wouldn’t be able to distinguish the blue card from the grey card.
Largely geraniums, pelargoniums and erodium’s share the same characteristics and so they fall into the same Family known botanically as Geraniaceae. There are seven recognised species within the Geraniaceae family, but I’ll concentrate on the three largest.
I’m sure you all know that not all plants that we grow here in the UK originated here. People known as Plant Hunters have been bringing plants back to the UK for hundreds of years, reaching a peak in Victorian times. Those plants that do not originate here, plants that have been brought back from other countries are classed as non-native and can become invasive.
There aren’t all that many books specifically about Hardy Geraniums but the handful or so that are available to buy are useful and some can be bought second hand at little expense.
For the most part aphids, more commonly known as green fly or black fly, don’t really affect Geraniums. However, never say never. Last year, conditions seemed to be perfect for the nursery to experience a siege from these mini monsters. Luckily, this glut of aphids came with its perfect partner, the Ladybird and better still Ladybird larvae. Ladybirds love to munch on aphids and their offspring are insatiable, soon the siege was over, and the ladybirds were victorious. Hurrah!
When it comes to flowers there are many different types of blue. They range from blues that are so pale they are almost white, like G. wallichianum ‘Crystal Lake’, through to what I call true blues such as G. ‘Johnson’s Blue’ and on to the dark indigo blues of G. ‘Blue Blood’.
In truth there are no red geraniums, certainly not in the red I imagine when someone says red, like a traffic light or fire engine, not even the red of a bedding geranium or pelargonium. There are however some that are probably classed as a purple or dark purple but to me, I see them as more of a burgundy red, or a maroon.
Sometimes I find it hard to decide if something is purple or blue, for example in certain lights G. x magnificum or G. himalayense ‘Gravetye’ can both look blue and purple simultaneously. So as with the blog I wrote about blue flowering geraniums I’m going to stick to the geraniums that, in my opinion really are purple or a shade of purple.
When it comes to geraniums there are many different types of pink flowers. They range from the palest pinks like G. x oxonianum ‘Katherine Adele’, where they are almost white to the softest pinks such as G. ‘Light Dilys’, to the bright, and frankly, in your face magenta pinks of G. subcaulescens ‘Giuseppii’.
the term Alpine refers to the region where these sorts of plants have originated from. The alpine region is found between the tree line and snow line on a mountain. Alpine conditions are pretty tough to grow in. Plants are very hardy with temperatures varying from...
