Geranium x. oxonianum "Hollywood"

It really is amazing what people will say on the internet. For instance: "I bought 13 of these at 8 bucks a piece!"

Yes, I did. I couldn't resist Dan Hinkley's description in the 2000 Heronswood catalog:

"Extremely floriferous flowing flowers of pale pink, perfectly formed with overlapping petals, and strikingly veined with magenta, we have used this to remarkable effect as a groundcover at the base of a newly planted hedge outside my office. It was stupendous this year."

Stupendous, by which Dan clearly meant definitions 1. and 2.: "marvelous" and "amazingly large." Obviously I didn't consult the A to Z Encyclopedia which very clearly says that Hollywood grows to 3-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet. Sure enough, it does. See first photo.

I started giving Hollywood away the day after it arrived, and I haven't stopped. I have maybe three of the original plants, but there are more in the yard. Have you ever met a geranium that didn't love to be divided?

These photos, which I took at 9:00 at night without flash, don't show the sweet, pale ballet pink of the flowers, though the veining shows nicely in the lower photo.

No pinching is required to keep the plants in full bloom from mid-June until August; that's about when I'll cut them back to the ground -- there'll be some new growth lurking there -- and in about 3 weeks I'll get a second flush of lush foliage and flowers before the November or December frosts. Then I'll cut them back again and wait until spring. The plant in this photo is next to the front walk; after I cut it back I'll tuck a pot of whatever strikes my fancy beside it until it grows again.

These geraniums, like the others, aren't picky about their requirements. They grow and flower equally well in sun and shade -- the pink is a little darker in the shade -- and tolerate drought well. Don't water them overhead just before you have company because the water knocks them back; they'll recover in a couple hours.

The foliage of the "true" geraniums doesn't have the wonderful smell of the more tropical zonal pelargoniums that we all call geraniums. There are many, many different varieties and colors, some of them quite deep and striking but none particularly tropical. Joy Creek Nursery has a wide selection; the now-Burpee-owned Heronswood has a few too, though I haven't ordered from them since the buy-out. Pick one or two -- or even three, but certainly not thirteen, unless you have a STUPENDOUS yard.