Not so ‘Jolly Bee’By Hilary Apicella
If you read my article about Julie Toll’s talk at The Lee Old Church in last month’s issue (‘How the other half gardens’) you may have been inspired to add Geranium ‘Jolly Bee’ to your planting list. Sadly, if you haven’t already bought it, you’re probably too late.
According to the June issue of the RHS magazine ‘The Garden’, nurseries will no longer be licensed to sell this little garden gem. To cut a long story short, DNA tests have shown that ‘Jolly Bee’ is genetically too similar to Geranium ‘Rozanne’ for them to be legally sold as different cultivars and, since ‘Rozanne’ was introduced first, ‘Jolly Bee’ has had its PBR (Plant Breeders Rights) cancelled and is now plant non grata.
Still, if ‘Rozanne’ and ‘Jolly Bee’ are the identical blue twins of the Geranium Genus, and they both flower from June until October, does it matter which one covers the ground in your borders? A rose by any other name and all that…