If beloved Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' were invigorated with better branching and far more flowering stems, the result would look much like this new introduction from the Cambridge Botanical Garden. Setting dozens of sapphire-blue blooms over two seasons, 'Brookside' is an over-achiever that crowns its display with bright fall foliage changes and a superior tolerance of drought. You must have it for the border and container.The flowers are large, brilliantly colored, and very profuse, appearing first in early summer (in most climates) and again in early autumn, provided you shear back the first blooms after they pass. Butterflies and bees are constant visitors to these flowers, while nibbling animals from rabbits to deer leave the plant alone -- the perfect combination! The foliage is large, darker green than many others, and mounded, for a horizontally layered look that no other perennial in the garden can quite equal. Hardy Geranium is one plant that truly looks as good out of bloom as in, and when the leaves of 'Brookside' turn intense shades of red and golden-orange in autumn, the effect is spectacular.
'Brookside' was bred from G. pratense x G. clarkei 'Kashmir Purple,' so it comes by its beauty honestly. Named for a street in Cambridge, England, it is a suitable foreground planting for Roses and Hydrangea, while in the perennial border its mounding, billowy habit faces down tall, spiky plants from Phlox to Delphinium. Splendid in containers, too, where it can be persuaded to loll over the sides attractively! About 18 inches high (in bloom) and 24 inches wide, it is endlessly useful and a hard-working addition to any setting. Zones 4-8.
