cos plants are people too!

Welcome to my substack...

I like to think about plants as if they were people. It helps me understand them better. The usual details like height, spread and flowering time don’t say much about what a plant feels like in the garden. If we thought more about their characters it would make it easier to know who to plant with who and how they will get on. Like a seating plan at a wedding! If your garden is a party, what plants are on the guest list?

How about the safest bet - Geranium ‘Rozanne,’ or as I like to think of her, Grace Jones at Studio 54.

She’ll turn up early (let’s say April) in a violet WOW of an outfit spilling her cocktail that’s the colour of meths. She talks to every single guest (winds her way all over the border) Need a drink? She’ll pour you one – she does everything (trails, climbs, clumps!) brings everyone together, fills any awkward silences (fills any gaps and covers bare ground) The doorbell goes... ‘I’LL GET IT’ she shouts even though she’s not even the host. She is ever present (happy growing almost everywhere) and the last to leave (long flowering). Then she passes out til the next party (deciduous). She does think it’s all about her but nothing a Chelsea chop won’t fix and if she’s there it’s a PARTY.

Isn’t that more fun than saying ‘a clump forming herbaceous perennial that grows in sun or part shade and flowers April to November?’

Is Grace going in your garden? Is she living up to her reputation? Do tell!

Plenty more where this came from…

📸 Grace Jones at Studio 54 via alfredogarcia70.wordpress.com

📸 Geranium ‘Rozanne’ https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/geranium-rozanne/