Geranium Claridge Druce
June is the month of pink geraniums. In many British gardens at least. And that's 'geranium' in the sense of the hardy 'cranesbills', not the pot plants – a confusion between 'geranium' and 'pelargonium' that goes back about two centuries (let's blame Linnaeus, the originator of the system of scientific naming).
Nearly all Geranium species flourish in the British climate and especially two pink species from southern Europe and their hybrid progeny. Of the these, the original is Geranium 'Claridge Druce'. Have a hard-to-get-to bare patch and need to fill it? Try this. A robust perennial, which seems to flourish almost anywhere, fighting off weeds as it goes, this oddly-named plant is really extraordinarily useful. Sometimes one hears complaints about it – elbowing aside smaller plants or seeding, but it is not in fact a strong spreader and unwanted plants are easily removed or thinned down. Like all of its pink relatives (grouped under the catch-all hybrid title of 'G. x oxonianum) it flowers for all of June, flops into a bit of a mess, and then flowers again in September, and then off and on until the first frosts. It is very good value indeed.
And the funny name? Back in the early 20th century, when hybrid plants were a bit of a novelty, this appeared in a botanist's garden in Oxford. Casting around for a name, what better person to honour than Claridge Druce, a well-known local chemist, popular for his hangover cure and chair of the Public Health Committee of the city council. A little bit of history preserved in many gardens.
Caption – Strong enough to hold up a bicycle? Not really, but a plant flourishing in a neglected spot alongside a canal illustrates this plant's ability to grow, and keep growing, without any care and attention
