Poor soil

Jalima I have a perennial geranium that gets “accidentally” cut down to the ground on a regular basis, but bounces back with a flourish. I should have room for a couple on this new site and I like the look of Rosanne. It’s odd how the dogs still stop, even though there is nothing to sniff at and pee on now, as if they can’t quite work it out!

There are over 68 types of Cranesbill geraniums, large and small, with flowers from white through pink and blue to almost a black purple.
They are one of the most useful plants. Splash is a very pretty one, meduim sized with white flowers striped with purple.

I may plant some more of the cranesbill geraniums but a couple more I have don't flower for long and become rather untidy.

The sun has broken through so I'm off out to inspect Roxanne, chop back an overhanging penstemmon and give her some light!

I used to grow Johnson’s Blue, which I adored, but it very quickly got out of hand and took up too much space. The one I have in my current garden is quite compact for a cranesbill.

Splash does very well in the shade, I love hardy geraniums, they are so useful for filling bits of borders and weed suppressors.
I did love heucheras but have gone right off them now.

I like Wargrave Pink But it does take over. I bought a little collection of new ones three years ago. Some are doing better than others. I think some varieties are just too "over-bred".

I wouldn't worry about your Rozanne yet, Jalima. I have several different geraniums which all disappear over winter but come back like weeds in the spring! Have a poke around where it was. I bet you'll find it has a nice solid 'base' just waiting to spring into life again...
I bought my Rozanne cheaply from B & Q a couple of years ago from their 'very sad plants' section. It's thriving and flowers all summer long.

Question. Does the cardboard trick stop docks and nettles in their tracks?

One thing I will have to tackle before we consider planting anything is getting rid of the extraordinary number of snails that have been thrown up by the upheaval. They have thrived in all the cover. There were fist sized clumps of them (breeding?), and we left a lot on the surface in the hope that the birds would deal with them, but I fancy that in the long run, they will have to be removed by now hand.

Before putting the cardboard down, I hand weeded any large obvious weeds. But the only ones that appear now have blown in as seeds.