What is it?
Plant fashions evolve slowly. It’s taken the geum nearly a decade to move up to its current position as a must-have for Chelsea gardens; visitors and TV presenters have been cooing over it at the show. You can see why: geums are long-flowering but really hit their stride in May: clumps of hairy leaves punctuated by long stems carrying blooms in citrus shades. Height and spread varies but is rarely above 60cm x 60cm.
Any good varieties? ‘Totally Tangerine’ was the geum that first won over the Chelsea crowds, and ‘Scarlet Tempest’ was a hit in 2016. Coral pink ‘Bell Bank’ is more subtle, gold-red ‘Alabama Slammer’ not so much. Soft orange ‘Prinses Juliana’ is a favourite of mine.
Plant it with? Be bold and team with a purple salvia or spires of Verbascum ‘Violetta’, or run it through a hairy, airy grass such as Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima).
And where? Geums love a sunny spot and fertile, moist soil; they will do well in a container provided you keep up with watering.
Any drawbacks? If you can’t deliver the aforementioned moist soil, powdery mildew may mar plants in mid to late summer.
What else can it do? Those long slim stems and pompom flowers make it a choice cut flower.
