Hi Puddock this looks familiar - could the back plant be a Geum? and the flowers Pansy?

I thought it was a pansy aswell but it is all the same plant and the leaves are waxy but thanks anyway

How pretty and so many flowers, someone will know soon Puddock.

Foliage looks like regal pelargonium - the flowers look a bit too large for regal pelargonium, but could be that. But i'd be staggered if it survived outside all on its own, particularly after last winter.

Thanks Bamboo thats what I thought and my mother stays 50 miles north of Aberdeen on the Moray Firth coast and could not get her car out for nearly 3 months last winter. And that plant survived in her friends gravel driveway and came up in the spring and is even larger than last year. That is why she would like it identified because it really deserves a bit of respect.

Pity you've not got a photograph of the actual plant in situ, be interesting to see that. Maybe she's got a new, naturally occurring hybrid there - if it was, be worth an absolute mint!

There is a Pelargonium which is claimed to be hardy - Louise and I saw it in a Garden Centre earlier this year. The flowers in your photo look like the ones on the plants we saw, but i'm afraid I didn't take a note of what its name was.

We didn't believe the claims - but.....!!!

Hi Bamboo I have phoned my Mother and told her what you said and she going to visit her friend with her camera !!

It's stunning whatever it is!!

Actually the Moray Firth is a very mild area and the snow cover would keep a plant warm. I would not be surprised if it is a geranium. If it is on the drive maybe the heat from the car creates a microclimate for it. This link shows a very similar colouring. It is the Pelargonium and geranium society site http://www.thepags.org.uk/events.html

We weren't mild last winter Scotsgran -18˚C for far too long.

it looks like a regal pelargonium to me and I left one out by mistake and it survived down by the rabbit hutch. heaven nows how as it was -16 in some places in the garden.

I'm With you Moon Grower I would not say -18 was mild either ok for Parsnips & Brussel Sprouts perhaps. But I am begining to think that it is a pelargonium it will be interesting to see a pic of whole plant and situation

Me too Puddock. Where in Aberdeenshire are you? Back in the 70s we lived in Tarves and outside New Deer.

Hi moon grower I am @ Harehill its between Bridge of Don and Blackbog Poterton area originally from Banff

Did you have snow on the ground at that temperature. It is intriguing and I look forward to seeing what shelter if any it has in its present home.

Mostly we had snow on the ground but we also had bare frozen ground...

It looks like what we know as "Martha Washington" Geranium (Pelargonium x domesticum). It's very similar to the Regal Geranium, but with larger flowers. Reputedly hardier to heat and cold than P. x hortorum.

I took this quote from a reply about Regal Pelargoniums on Daves Garden site. "Grows in well drained soil (not acid) and Regals prefer partial shade. They need a frost free position and dislike winter wet so best bought indoors until last frost date".
It will be very interesting to see where this plant has been growing.

Puddock we are just west of Forres, near the Culbins.

Moongrower .... I went to school in Tarves, my folks still live the Haddo estate :) I'm in Udny now.
We moved to Tarves in 1978, before that we were in Shivas, near Drumwhindle.