11. Delicious geranium
Geranium pratense is found everywhere in the clearings and meadows of the middle strip. It can decorate not only the garden, but also various dishes of country cuisine — both flowers and leaves are edible. In its raw form, Geranium pratense foliage is added to salads and cottage cheese with herbs from April to July. You can also add it to hot dishes: casseroles, soups, stews, vegetable purees, cutlets, pies, omelets and scrambled eggs.
Important: the leaves of Geranium pratense are similar in appearance to the leaves of poisonous aconites, do not confuse them!
Geranium flowers taste neutral, they can be decorated with dishes, and in dry form — added to a mixture of flower tea.
12. The Garden of bees
On a hot summer day, bees will always be heard buzzing over the geranium — they adore it.
If you want to attract more of these useful insects to the garden, plant along with geranium monarda, echinacea, rudbeckia, autumn asters, liatris, verbena, veronicastrum, blueberry, sage, helenium, catnip.
13. Barrel circles
Trunk circles in the orchard do not have to be left open — they can be planted with groundcover geraniums.
So, in the Dutch garden De Houtenhandsche Hof, Geranium cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’ with white flowers and a pale pink center was planted in squares under apple trees, pears and cherries. And when the fruit trees bloom, the second wave of “apple blossom” begins, but already on the ground.
14. Rocky garden
Some geraniums need rocky or sandy, well-drained soil. Such species will feel good in rock gardens and gravel flower beds.
First of all, this is Geranium cinereum with carved silver-gray leaves, its varieties and hybrids. As well as Geranium dalmaticum, Geranium renardii, Geranium farreri, Geranium sanguineum.
15. Curb along the path
Geraniums are often used as a “green material” for edging tracks. Neat decorative leaf borders are obtained. The main thing is to choose species and varieties that do not fall apart and keep their shape after flowering (most varieties of Geranium pratense are immediately excluded).
16. With bulbous
When tulips and daffodils bloom, neat geranium bushes create a green background for them. And after the bulbs bloom, they come to the fore, covering the withering foliage.
17. In the “windows” of paving
Groundcover geraniums will come to the rescue when you need to close the windows in the paving. Sometimes they are left on purpose to decorate paths and playgrounds with inserts of ornamental plants.
Sometimes there are unintended inconsistencies. Is there a narrow strip of land left between the retaining wall and the paved area? Plant Geranium macrorrhizum!
18. Hard-to-reach places
Such a plastic plant as Geranium macrorrhizum will populate and cover the most inconvenient places for weeding from weeds. For example, in the Hamburg park ‘Planten un Blomen’, such plantings filled the space under the benches.
A nice bonus for those who sit down to rest is the warm “southern” aroma that leaves exude if you hold your hand over them.
19. Blue, White, Pink
Geraniums will be “their own” in almost all types of flower beds — whether it is a modern meadow or a traditional mixborder at a cottage garden, shady or sunny, rustic or Mediterranean.
And, of course, white, pink, purple and blue monochrome flower beds will also not do without geraniums of the appropriate colors.
20. Geraniums-aliens
Surprise yourself and your friends by planting a geranium that doesn’t look like a geranium. Yes, it happens! Geranium oxonianum has varieties with very narrow petals, so that the flower looks very unusual, resembling the shape of a star.
In some cultivars, the flowers appear semi-double due to modified stamens. So, geraniums with asterisks include ‘Armitagae’, ‘Crug Star’, ‘David McClintock’, ‘Fran’s Star’, ‘Sherwood’, ‘Southcombe Double’, ‘Southcombe Star’.
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