For the most miniature, look for these newcomers: double pink, three-inch ‘Pixie’; rose-red ‘Tiny Rubies’; four-inch ‘Wee Willie’ (sweet William’s son), not reliably perennial but behaves beautifully as an annual; deep-red ‘Little Joe.’ One seed house offers a perennial ‘Midget Double’ sweet William under four inches high and like a button-size carnation.
CARE. Warm sandy soil, not too rich. Lime, dryish, drainage. Full sun, cool temperature. Cut off faded flowers.
PROPAGATION. Division, layers, cuttings, seeds.
SPECIAL USES. Flower beds, rock gardens, edging.
Geranium Geraniaceae Cranesbill
This is not the popular potted plant (pelargonium) or the wild geranium of the Eastern woods (G. maculatum). These are lacy-leaved perennials with a delicate look but a tough constitution. Here are some of the smallest available types, flowering mostly in the spring but often repeating in spurts throughout the summer.
farreri—A little three-inch doll from China, the many-fingered leaves making a low nest under the astonishingly large, black-anthered, blush-pink-on-white flowers.
macrorrhizum—The species is largish and makes a buxom six-inch bush with light sprays of pink flowers. The foliage is aromatic and turns beautifully bronzy in fall.
pylzowianum—Eager spreader, two to three inches high, with finely divided leaves and rosy flowers in May and June.
CARE. Gravelly soil with drainage, dryish. Sun or light shade. Mostly hardy.