Pelargonium Grandiflorum and other ‘Geraniums’

New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation by John Grimshaw, Ross Bayton and illustrated by Hazel Wilks. Amazon

I was tempted to cut the leaves from my hellebore a bit early this year but have decided to wait a bit longer. Here is a selection of 2018 flowers from RHS and my garden.

Ornamental Japanese Maples are widely available for planting in your garden. The autumn colouring makes these trees spectacular when planted en mass in a woodland or Japanese garden setting.

You don’t need global warming to get a warm glow in your garden if you plant some Canna. The fiery hot flowers and leaves on some Cannas are hard to beat and are worth a place in any passionate garden.

Slugs and Snails

The Lime is a tall growing well shaped tree which is often grown along avenues and public places in the UK. The flowers have an exquisite fragrance.

Alstromeria are one of the longest lived cut flowers I know. Several weeks of flowering are possible if the bunch is bought with colour just showing. Ensure there is plenty of bud and you will be delighted.

This fancy Pelargonium was new to me. I bought the plant whilst on holiday at a specialist pelargonium nursery in Stokesley Yorkshire some years ago.

Previously I have stuck to traditional names for bits of my garden. Veg plot, rockery, orchard (when I feel posh), rose bed, border, hedge and similar names have delineate what and where I was trying to grow.

Regal Pelargoniums or exotic Geraniums are getting more fancy and colourful. This pink frilled flower is called Reba Regal. I grow Regal pelargoniums for in house but they can go outside after the last frost although some flowers are a bit susceptible to rain damage.

I have a strong liking for Pelargoniums (which I will call Geraniums from now on). They are still producing lots of colour and variety late into October. Because we suffer strong winds and early frosts up on the Pennines of Yorkshire I am in the process of protecting the varieties I am keen to keep through winter.

Oak trees conjure up images of Robin Hood and mystical Oak forests. Britain has made good use of Oak trees down the centuries. ‘From little acorns great Oak trees grow’