Geranium oxonianum Katherine Adele

The perennial geranium oxonianum 'Katherine Adele', also known as the hybrid perennial geranium 'Katherine Adele', is an excellent spreading and floriferous ground cover that offers a long summer flowering period. Its flowers are white to very pale pink, with dark pink veins. This recent hybrid, closely related to G. versicolor, from which it originates, is also vigorous but shorter. The foliage is distinctly marbled with purple, lighter on the young leaves. It can eventually form mats up to 80 cm (32in) in diameter. This plant is hardy and adaptable, requiring only rainwater in the summer, and will thrive in full sun.

The perennial geranium oxonianum 'Katherine Adele' belongs to the Geraniaceae family. It is the result of cross-breeding between G. endressii, a robust deciduous ground cover from the Pyrenees, and G. versicolor, a taller evergreen variety from Italy that tolerates relative drought. This hybrid forms a minimum 45 cm (18in) high ground cover that can spread up to 80 cm (32in) or more under optimal conditions. It has an upright, dense and spreading growth habit. Between May and August, it produces open cup-shaped flowers, pale pink to white with purple veins. Its leaves are plicate and deeply divided, with visible veins, lobed, and divided into five lobes. The juvenile foliage is pale and clearly marked with purple towards the stem. The mature foliage is also maculate with purple, of a slightly darker green shade. This hybrid is fertile.

This perennial geranium is a large and easy-to-grow ground cover that will find its place in perennial or low shrub borders, high edges, slopes, rock gardens, or large pots on the terrace. It forms a beautiful combination with old roses, such as 'Felicia', Cotoneaster atropurpureus 'Variegatus', or spreads at the base of Libertia peregrinans, adorned in bronze orange.