I tried a couple of new hybrid perennial geraniums last summer. ‘Shocking Blue’ was the most impressive of the lot. I had high hopes for another called ‘Rise and Shine’:
The flowers are similar to my beloved ‘Rozanne’ but they are more lavender than blue. The plants have a low spreading habit, so I planted two of them in the front row of a flowerbed full of daylilies.
Like ‘Rozanne’ the plants are supposed to flower from June through October. ‘Rise and Shine’ indeed got an early start. The plants were blooming already in the first week of June. Unfortunately they stopped after about three weeks and really didn’t do anything again until late fall when they coughed up a handful of new flowers.
I’ll give them another year to get adjusted before I give up on them, but so far for me ‘Rise and Shine’ should’ve been named “Back to Bed.”