Gardening tips for July: cranesbills

cranesbills

published 12 July 2012

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.

* Subscribe to Country Life and Pay just £29.99

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by His Majesty The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.