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Spring garden duty means protecting geranium from vermin

Writer's picture: Diane LynchDiane Lynch

Something happened in the garden this past winter. The rats have developed a taste for the Geranium maderense cultivar alba, which were sending up huge leaves in preparation for blooming in the spring. This is the largest geranium on Earth and completes its lifecycle in two to three years, which makes it a biennial. As the leaves develop, their sturdy stems drop down toward the ground and form a holdfast to prop this large plant up when it sends up the biggest bloom you’ve ever seen. After a few weeks in bloom, the whole flower, which is really several thousand individual flowers in an enormous bouquet, will start dropping seed. You’ll have lots of seedlings to thin, pull out or share with friends. After a couple of years, you’ll have some blooming every year in your garden.

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