As far as common summer blooms go, geraniums have to be amongst the prettiest and daintiest! But there’s one series – a sisterhood, if you will – that has caught the eye of many gardeners with its delicate beauty. It’s the Anne’s Family®, and ‘Kelly-Anne’ is the sister that everyone fancies!

What’s different about this plant?

Geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’ is a bit of a miracle child, having been bred from a parent that was not known to seed at all (but more on that below). She’s a radiant and resilient perennial that graces your garden with vibrant pink blooms cut through with a darker pink vein, creating a captivating visual display. 

Blooming from late spring to the first frost, ‘Kelly-Anne’ offers enduring beauty (even in heat, unlike its parent) and contributes to biodiversity by attracting pollinators. This hardy geranium forms a mounding plant that showcases excellent disease resistance, heat tolerance and moisture resilience. Flourishing in full sun or semi-shaded conditions, it prefers well-drained, moist soil for optimal growth. 

How was geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’ created?

Geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’ was created at Molter B.V., a nursery in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands. Remy Lubbe, who discovered ‘Kelly-Anne’ himself, talks us through its conception: 

“We started breeding with geranium in 2017, and used a variety of parents, among which was geranium ‘Rozanne’. In the first year, we had only eight seedlings and nobody believed we were able to get seeds from ‘Rozanne’ – but we did! The second year, we used these seedlings as parents and were able to get a lot more seeds from them.

“It took a lot of work to collect at the right moment of day, seed by seed and all by hand, but we had a whole bunch of seedlings! That year, we found a few nice pink geraniums, and Kelly-Anne was one of them. Over the past few years, we have continued the work and now also have Mary-Anne (purple), plus three new additions to be introduced next year, Jo-Anne. Carol-Anne and Jill-Anne (blue; blue-pink bicolour; and blue and white centre). You probably guessed it… It is the Anne’s Family®. We came up with this name because we believe family is stronger than friends (following Rozanne and Friends™, of course). 

“The search continues for white but this is not so easy, we believe we have the right parents but timing is difficult!”

Where can you plant geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’?

Geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’ is ideal for perennial borders, rock gardens, mass plantings or container displays. ‘Kelly-Anne’ is an exceptionally long-flowering variety, adding delicate beauty to any sunny or partially sunny garden spot.

These blooms shouldn’t be limited to private gardens, though! They’d look fantastic in public green areas, including urban parks and floral displays in towns and cities!

Where can you buy geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’?

Geranium ‘Kelly-Anne’ is available from DutchGrown and Barnsdale Gardens in the UK, and from Leader Plants and Plantentuin Esveld in the EU.

Plant of the Month is sponsored by Plantipp, a company based in The Netherlands who handle the introduction of new plants into Europe.

See every Plant of the Month here.

Images courtesy of Plantipp.

Mr Plant Geek

Michael has been involved with gardening and plants since he was just five years old. He is a self-professed Plant Geek, and was listed in the Sunday Times top 20 most influential people in the gardening world, thanks to his plant hunter role at Thompson & Morgan.

Michael was responsible for new plant introductions such as the Egg and Chips plant and the FuchsiaBerry and keeps busy travelling the world in search of new plants as well as lecturing worldwide, including stints in Japan. He is very active on social media – so why not give him a follow at @mr_plantgeek or Facebook – and writes a plant-focused Substack called Grow This, Not That.