Spring Flowering Geraniums

Now that summer is relinquishing its grip and autumn is nudging its way in it’s a great time to think ahead to next spring. While the overnight temperatures are dropping, the soil and daytime temperatures are still warm enough for plants to put down some roots and to establish themselves before winter gets its icy fingers stuck in. The addition of wetter weather compared to that of July and August is also beneficial to newly planted plants. At this time of year there is also still enough daylight hours for plants to photosynthesise and produce food for themselves.

When is spring? Spring is usually determined in one of two ways, meteorologically, which is always the 1^st of March until the 31^st May and astronomically, which next year, 2020, will begin on the 20^th March and conclude on the 20^th June. Obviously, the plants don’t know about calendar dates and the earth’s axis so they tend to be governed by the weather and temperatures and flower when they feel the time is right. We can have a certain amount of surety that in the spring months the temperatures will warm up (though it has been known to snow in May!). At this time some plants will begin to flower, taking advantage of early pollinating insects and beginning the process of reproducing.

Below is a list of geraniums that are known to reliably flower within the spring months, please note this list is a guide and is in no way definitive:

Blue/Purple flowers

1. G. ibericum subsp. jubatum ‘Vital’
2. G. x magnificum
3. G. sylvaticum ‘Mayflower’
4. G. phaeum ‘Lily Lovell’
5. G. phaeum ‘Basket of Lavender’
6. G. phaeum ‘Rothbury Ruby’
7. G. phaeum ‘Walkure’
8. G. phaeum ‘Blauwoet’
9. G. ‘Philippe Vapelle’
10. G. ‘Terre Franche’
11. G. ‘Orkney Dawn’
12. G. ‘Stephanie’
13. G. ‘Sabani Blue’
14. G. ‘Blue Blood’
15. G. ‘Alan Mayes’

White flowers

1. G. x oxonianum f. thurstonianum ‘White Stripes’
2. G. x cantabrigiense ‘St. Ola’
3. G. x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’
4. G. sanguineum ‘Album’
5. G. maculatum ‘Album’
6. G. phaeum ‘Album’
7. G. renardii
8. G. nodosum ‘Silverwood’
9. G. himalayense ‘Derrick Cook’
10. G. macrorrhizum ‘Spessart’
11. G. macrorrhizum ‘White-Ness’

Pink flowers

1. G. x cantabrigiense ‘Cambridge’
2. G. sanguineum ‘Striatum’
3. G. sanguineum ‘Apfelblute’
4. G. maculatum ‘Espresso’
5. G. maculatum ‘Elizabeth Ann’
6. G. phaeum ‘Alec’s Pink’
7. G. ‘Dreamland’
8. G. macrorrhizum ‘Ingerwesen’s Variety’
9. G. macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s Variety’
10. G. macrorrhizum ‘Czakor’
11. G. ‘Antchilly’
12. G. ‘Chantilly’