Geum 'Totally Tangerine'

Avens Rosaceae

A geum that thoroughly earns its name, ‘Totally Tangerine’ carries a seemingly endless succession of soft tangerine-orange flowers on tall, wiry, branching stems, creating an airy display rather more like a cloud of butterflies than the usual compact avens. The flowers rise well above the attractive mound of mid-green, lobed foliage and continue from late spring into autumn, making this one of the longest-flowering geums available. It is also completely sterile, so there is no unwanted self-seeding—quite the civilised arrangement.

This remarkable hybrid was bred by Timothy Crowther at his nursery in West Sussex, resulting from a deliberate cross between Geum rivale as the female parent and Geum chiloense ‘Mrs Bradshaw’ as the male. The cross was made in 1998, with the resulting seedlings grown in 1999; ‘Totally Tangerine’ was selected that summer for its early flowering, flower colour, prolificacy and unusually long flowering period. 

Originally named ‘Tim’s Tangerine’, it was subsequently introduced as ‘Totally Tangerine’ by Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2010, where it won Chelsea Plant of the Year. It has since become one of the modern geum classics and holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. 

A first-rate plant for the sunny border, particularly effective threaded through grasses and blue-flowered perennials. Give it fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil; it tolerates light shade but flowers best in good sun. 

Height: 70–90 cm
Spread: 45–60 cm
Flowering: May–October
Hardiness: H7, below –20°C
Growing conditions: Moist but well-drained, fertile soil in full sun or light partial shade.
Breeder: Timothy Crowther, West Sussex, UK
Parents: Geum rivale × Geum chiloense ‘Mrs Bradshaw’
PBR: Yes; originally raised as ‘Tim’s Tangerine’.