Geraniums

At our house, the gardens are relatively easy to look after. At the front of the house there is a 3x4 metre patch of roses that grow a bit wild and just need trimming back a couple of times a year. I also need to get in amongst the rose bushes every now and then and pull out any weeds. Out the back of our house is an area of about 9x6 metre that is mostly paved over. There is a big pear tree at the back, a wildly out of control wisteria in the corner and a couple of other types of climbing plants that grow along the fences.

To keep the garden looking a bit better, I usually try and have a few potted plants spread around. When we first moved in I would head down to Columbia Road flower market on a Sunday and come home with a haul of beautiful herbs and flowering plants - dahlia, jasmine, camellia, lavender, sweet peas, hydrangea. These would all inevitably die within a month. The zinnia that looked amazing on the day I bought them didn't even last one week. I have also brought back tulip bulbs from Amsterdam and found they never even sprouted come spring. Let's just say I don't exactly have a green thumb!

Overall, it can be pretty disappointing, so I have learnt these days to stick with the basics. The basic plant for me is the geranium plant. For the past two years I have just bought these in bulk (an added bonus is that they are really inexpensive) and planted them as a single colour in all of my pots.

Last year I had white geraniums. Some of them have come back this year. I bought a whole lot in pale pink the other day to finish off my remaining pots. These should last throughout the summer and hopefully come back next year as well.

Red geraniums always remind me of Italy - where you see them absolutely everywhere. Geraniums would be great at a bach (holiday house) as they seem so hardy and don't require much maintenance. 

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