Gardening tips for July: cranesbills

Many of the hardy geraniums, such as good old Johnson’s Blue and its friends and relations, delight us by giving a wonderful display of flowers in early summer, but then do what they need to by producing new foliage. If you would like them to flower again in a few weeks’ time, steel yourself to the task of shearing the whole lot to the ground, then tidy away the leaves and wait. Fear not, they will respond in short order by sending up a new dome of green leaves and, in due course, a second crop of those lovely flowers.

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