Geranium Ann Folkard

Hardy geranium 'Ann Folkard' is a great classic of English gardens. It combines particularly long flowering, a highly distinctive purplish magenta colour and young golden foliage. Vigorous without being invasive, it develops long, flexible stems that trail along the ground between other plants or use a shrub for support. Its ornamental qualities and ease of growing have earned it the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. This is an exceptional perennial plant, ideal for planting near your finest roses!

This cultivar was obtained in Great Britain by the Reverend Oliver Folkard. In 1973, he germinated a seed resulting from a cross between two botanical species: G. procurrens and Geranium psilostemon. The plant was described in the RHS journal in July 1974 and named in honour of his wife, Ann. It inherited its long, creeping stems and bright young foliage from the first parent, and its magenta flowers marked with an almost black eye from the second. This herbaceous perennial has a persistent crown, but its deciduous growth dies back in winter. It reaches 50 to 60 cm in height and spreads 80 cm to 1.20 m wide. Its stems do not root where they touch the ground, making its growth easy to control. When they meet a rose or shrub, they can climb up into its branches. The palmate, deeply divided leaves are yellow-green to golden in spring, then turn light green in summer. Flowering takes place from June to October and lasts 16 to 20 weeks. The cup-shaped flowers, 3 to 4 cm in diameter, are an intense purplish magenta, crossed by almost black veins that converge towards a broad, dark eye. 'Ann Folkard' is a sterile hybrid: it does not produce spontaneous seedlings. This variety is hardy to around –23 °C in well-drained soil. Temperate oceanic or continental climates provide the best conditions.

Plant hybrid hardy geranium 'Ann Folkard' in sun, in rich, fairly cool and light soil, in a bed or perennial border, alongside campanulas, delphiniums, love-in-a-mist, and blue, pink or purple shrubby sages… This variety is particularly effective at the base of bush roses or shrub roses, where it climbs without invading them.