Dear Garden Diary,

Rhodochiton
first bloom
25 June 2012

Okay, I'll say it - I can not find any reference to the above pictured plant being a "Rhodochiton"...; and though it resembles the Lophspermum I know, it's not nearly the same.

If anyone can help explain this plant to me, please...

I'm going to miss this plant when we're away this summer. I've waited so long (it seems) for this first bloom; and with more on the way I suspect the magnificence of this plant is only just beginning.

It's so different from the easily searched Rhodochiton we have blooming profusely in the greenhouse:

Also blooming madly is John Davis beside the back door, twirling up the obelisk. I imagined this thirteen years ago; it;s nice to finally see it.

John Davis Explorer Rose
25 June 2012

There's an awful lot of pink in our garden. I pointed that out to R recently, who didn't seem bothered. Morden Blush is blooming in the west side garden, looking so pretty. I think about this plant when I tell customers at the greenhouse that, yes, roses actually are easy. John Davis regularly attracts the aphids, but Morden roses in my garden have never failed - even in the face of army worms. Just a stone of amethyst away is a chewed to pieces Cranesbill geranium ('Wargraves Pink').

Down the way from the Morden Blush, and across the way, is the Campanula persicifolia 'Blue' (Peach Leaf Bellflower) that I planted last year in the rain. First bloom ever, 25 June 2012. Hello.

Peonies are blooming, the Weigela (Red Prince) too

tucked tight in front are some wild Knautia macedonica (Crimson Scabious),

with our special Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) blooming below 

in lemon-lime

contrasting all those pinks and reds.

The front shade garden is getting a little crowded (not that there are not still places to fill..). The leafeaters haven't got to the lush foliage street side...yet...hopefully never, and with all the rain and humidity we've had this year the ferns and hostas are large and full.

...from the back door:

pea webs

West Side Garden 15 May 2012

Along the west side of the house (once home to horrible little pebbles) is coming up with colourful perennials planted late last summer. Everybody is returning as imagined, healthy but small. In addition to Campanula (Bell Flowers) and Sweet Woodruff are: 

Astilbe x arendsii
False Spirea
'Fanal'

Aruncus aethusifolius
Dwarf Goat's Beard

foam flower 'Black Snowflake'

Tiarella

Saxifragaceae

transplanted divided irises
hardy geranium endressii
'Wargrave's Pink'
hosta

hosta May 15

Morden Blush
Parkland  Rose
still so small :)

Cranesbill Geranium

Kingdom:     Plantae

Division:       Magnoliophyta

Class:            Magnoliopsida

Order:           Geraniales

Genus:          Geranium

Species:       G. phaeum

Illustration by
Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé  
Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz
1885, Gera, Germany
(copyright expired)



The violet-blue coloured flowers of the cranesbill geranium which thrives amongst the explorers in the University's memorial rose garden suggest G. himalayense but could be the more common Purple Geranium G. magnificum adopting a more blue hue from the soil. Maybe a hybrid cultivar - Jonson's Blue? 
G phaeum has rich wine coloured blooms, and I adore it. I would love to find one for the front garden. I believe there are already some hardy purple/violet/blue cranesbill already in the garden, but we'll have to confirm that after the excavation in the late spring.

The rose garden's cranesbill grows as a neat little mound of foliage to the north east of the bench. When it blooms it compliments in contrast to the roses around it.

• Cranesbills are also popular among the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Brown-tail and Mouse Moth. There is already a fair selection of food for the butterflies in the garden, but I'd like to improve it.
• Some species are perennials and generally winter hardy plants;. they are long lived and most have a mounding habit, and some have spreading rhizomes. 
• Grown in part shade to full sun, in well draining but moisture retentive soils, that are rich in humus.