Geranium oxonianum Sanne

The perennial geranium oxonianum 'Sanne' is a small perennial ground cover with dense and compact vegetation and moderately spreading growth. Its long white flowering contrasts wonderfully with its brownish-purple, pleasantly cut and lobed foliage. Hardy and accommodating, it is a very resistant variety that can thrive with rainfall in summer, not too dry soil, and a sunny or semi-shaded exposure. It will cover the ground of a flower bed, creep between rocks in a rockery, or border a pot on the terrace.

The perennial geranium oxonianum 'Sanne' belongs to the Geraniaceae family. It is likely the result of cross-breeding between G. sessiliflorum 'Nigricans', native to the high mountains of New Zealand, a beautiful black and prostrate cushion, and G. x oxonianum. The latter is itself a hybrid between G. endressii, a very robust, deciduous, spreading ground cover from the Pyrenees, and G. versicolor, a taller, evergreen Italian variety that tolerates relative drought. This recent hybrid combines and gathers the qualities of all its ancestors. It forms a barely 20 cm (8in) high ground cover that spreads up to 40 cm (16in) or more under optimal conditions. It has both compact and spreading vegetation. Between May and August-September, it displays numerous open funnel-shaped flowers, pendulous and white veined with grey. Its leaves are villous, slightly plicate and lobed, with visible veins and divided into five lobes. The evergreen foliage is beautiful, brownish-purple with a hint of green. Sometimes in autumn, it takes on an orange hue reminiscent of the foliage of certain heucheras.

This perennial geranium is an original and easy-to-grow ground cover that will find its place in rockeries, perennial or low shrub flower beds, along pathways, on slopes, or in large pots on the terrace. It pairs well with liverworts, columbines, peonies, and even ferns in moist soil. In drier soil, it can be associated, for example, with small periwinkles, the silver foliage of artemisias, or to cover the base of a 'Cuisse de Nymphe Emue' rose.