Geranium monacense

The Perennial Geranium monacense is a spontaneous hybrid, a chance fruit that has proven to be an excellent perennial plant for our gardens, both for its easy cultivation and its willingness to grow in difficult areas, as well as its qualities as a ground cover plant. Its flowers are small, but beautiful with their strongly reflexed pink-lilac petals that enliven the fresh green foliage, sometimes punctuated with brown, in summer. Autumn paints it red and transforms it into a flamboyant mound in shaded, even dry, areas of the garden.

The Geranium monacense, formerly called 'Monachum', belongs to the geranium family. It is a natural hybrid discovered in 1921 in a German garden near Munich. It combines the qualities of its two parents, Geranium phaeum, which thrives in wet meadows and woodland edges, and G. reflexum, native to southern Europe, which grows in semi-shade on dry soil. The perennial geranium monacense has a fairly dense, upright tufted habit, reaching a height of 45 cm (18in) or more, with a minimum spread of 50 cm (20in), sometimes much more if conditions allow. The flowering of this geranium occurs in summer, in June-July depending on the climate. The reflexed cup-shaped flowers measure 2 to 3 cm (1in) in diameter and are adorned with a soft and luminous hue, an ancient purple-pink, veined with darker shades. They are decorated with a beautiful blueish central halo around a small white center from which emerge a bundle of pink stamens with black anthers. The foliage is semi-evergreen, wavy and finely cut into rounded lobes, with a matte fresh green color, sometimes tinged with brown or purple, and then turning red in autumn.

The Perennial Geranium monacense is ideal in shaded or semi-shaded areas, slightly challenging spots, and dry areas in summer under bushes or trees. It will cover the ground without being suffocating, in the company of Aster ageratoides, dead nettles, small periwinkles, or woolly, obscure, or yellow foxgloves. It can also be planted on top of a wall, in a rockery where it will lean, with its base in the shade and its head in the sun, among aubrietas, violets, or wall bellflowers. It likes to creep under low branches of bushes, not fearing their roots.