Geranium
"Ann Thomson"
Every season, I tour the garden asking myself what the standout plant of the year has been. Which plant has impressed most, created the biggest impact, flowered the longest, etc.
Problem is that the same plant always wins and that plant is Geranium "Ann Thomson" !
"Ann" appears to secure very limited reference in most books or websites covering Geraniums but I have to wonder why. From a single plant I have up against a west facing wall, she produces a mound of foliage covering about 40cm in height and 50cm in width. The foliage has a delightful yellow tinge in Spring, darkening to a richer, more familiar green in summer and rarely discolours until very late in the season.
The flowers are of that rich magenta colour but a welcomed notch or two more subtle than the loud, in-yer-face colouring of Geranium Psilostemon. The flowers have a contrasting dark centre giving rise to equally dark veins running outward.
What makes "Ann" such a particularly stunning plant is the proliferation of blooms and the length of the flowering season.
The blooms come thick and fast from mid-May onwards, completely smothering the plant across its entire spread throughout Summer. It may not be the first Geranium to flower in the garden but it's always the last to throw up new blooms, often continuing to produce fresh new blooms into November .......... and that's some season !
A wonderful plant and one that every admirer of Geraniums should have.
