An excellent guide to this family of plants is the website Geraniaceae<\/a>, which is maintained by Robin Parer, a very knowledgeable person in Marin County.<\/p>\n The site describes plants within the three principal genera of the Geraniaceae. It lists many species of Geraniums in the following groups (with numbers of species): Annuals (6); Borders & Bedding (169); Ground Covers (86); Rock Gardens & Containers (39); Scramblers & Crawlers (23); and\u00a0Shade (83).<\/p>\n Geranium cantabrigiense<\/p><\/div>\n The geranium I dug out of my garden is G. x cantabrigiense. The species name is based on the Latin name for Cambridge, England, where the hybrid was developed. My plant is the cultivar \u2018Biokovo\u2019, which is a natural hybrid discovered in Croatia\u2019s Biokovo Mountains. The Perennial Plant Association named this plant 2015 Perennial Plant of the Year. It is an excellent ground cover that grows up to a foot high and displays white blossoms with a pink throat and prominent pink stamens. The blossoms generally open in late spring and continue into the fall, but have appeared early this year.<\/p>\n This plant had spread in several parts of my garden. I had yards and yards of it! I removed a 3\u2019 x 30\u2019 bed that amounted to perhaps 25 percent of the total so plenty continues to grace the landscape and will need future control. I removed these plants because they were growing in an area I had designated for natives of California and Mexico; I have planted this area with seeds of two varieties of the Four O-Clock (Mirabilis jalapa), which is a Mexican native and another vigorous grower.<\/p>\n Geranium canescens<\/p><\/div>\n Another geranium in my garden is G. canescens, which is a larger, relatively rare South African species that has been growing in my garden for only seven months. The species name means \u201cto become grey, to become old,\u201d but the plant, which is luscious green and doesn\u2019t appear to deserve that name. It has large, deeply lobed leaves, and will display pink flowers later in the spring.<\/p>\n To explore the garden possibilities for the geranium, visit Geranaiceae.com<\/a> or talk to Robin Parer in person at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, which returns to the San Francisco\u2019s Cow Palace, April 4\u20138, (www.sfgardenshow.com\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n Hardy geraniums can be fine additions to the garden landscape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently, I\u2019ve dug a lot of geraniums of my garden because they had grown exuberantly in the wrong place. I will describe these interlopers later in this column. Plants that grow where they are not wanted have been called \u201cweeds,\u201d … Continue reading ![\"Ground](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ongardening.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Geranium-cantabrigiense-cu.jpg?resize=218%2C300\")
<\/a>![\"Geranium](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ongardening.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Geranium-canescens-leaves.jpg?resize=261%2C300\")
<\/a>