Pondering geranium leaves

When I Read Your Blog On Geraniums . It Was very informative. They were one Of My Mums Favourite Plants. I Will Try to get some for my Garden I've Had Them Before. But not for a long time.

Very informative John, you know your geraniums don't you. I do grow a few and I'm just beginning to notice the difference between the leaves.

Very interesting blog. I grow a few different geraniums, they are useful plants, I especially like the ground cover ones with the scented leaves.

Very interesting. Some are quite distinctive but I really struggle to find differences in others. Sidalcea is a name I can never remember. Diane Bulley once sent me a white one which she said would prevent butterflies laying eggs on cabbages. So I tried it. The butterflies flew round the cabbages as usual but not one laid eggs there!!!

I found what I thought may be a geranium...but seeing your blog, I'm now wondering if it might be a very compact buttercup. Rats, I really thought I had another geranium. Well anyway I'm going to leave it where it is and see if it makes it thro the winter. If I post a pic of it will you give me your opinion? Thanks for a very informative blog.

Lori, those buttercups are the worst! A few years back, I came across some sprouting plants that looked like geraniums. We were near a small town about an hour away from home (I was giving a slide presentation on butterflies to a local hiking club), and I did not have time to collect any plants. The following week, we drove back to the spot along a stream and I had what I needed to collect a couple plants from the bank. The transplants did well and eventually flowered... They were the nicest buttercups! I had been hoping they were a native geranium such as G. maculatum. The only geranium I have found in the wild is G. bicknelii, and of course G. robertianum (Herb Robert) which must grow world-wide by now! Both are equally weedy. But, I do give them some space in my wild areas (with the buttercups).

Bowl You fancy confessing in public to digging up wild plants - if you were in Britain we'd have the law on you! If you want any more buttercups please do let me know - ours are the creeping kind and there are plenty to spare, lol.

It was not exactly in the wild.... This was an area in town where the plants in question would be considered weeds and were mowed and sprayed. We do have a big problem in some areas of Ontario, such as up the Bruce Peninsula where there are lots of rare fern and orchid varieties growing along the limestone cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment. Poaching of these plants is a real problem! Sadly most of these plants have very specific requirements and I suspect that most people lose what plants they take.

In that case I let you off!! You are lucky to live in a place where there are such desirable wild flowers. Most of Britain's wild daffodils have disappeared into peoples gardens over the years and as you say it can be a real problem.