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Geranium maderense ‘Alba’ (White Madeira Island Geranium) - This is a white flowering form of the giant geranium from the island of Madeira. As with the more common mauve-pink flower form, it is technically a biennial but has the large palmately dissected dark green leaves that make in an attractive plant even when not in bloom. The plant forms a mass of this foliage to about 3 feet tall and wide and when in flower in mid spring, it can reach to 5 feet tall with its massive many-branched inflorescence of white flowers, each with a pink central eye, that rises well above the foliage. The flowering stems and sepals are all covered with white hairs that catch the light and decorate the plant further and after flowering, these hairs remain attractive for several weeks.
It will take coastal sun but in light shade in cool coastal gardens this plant is quite drought tolerant, even surviving in areas without any supplemental irrigation. It is hardy to about 25 degrees - much below this and tip foliage wilts but plants survive and still blooms. Flowering usually commences on a 2 year old seedling but sometimes lingers to a third. Cut back when plants topple from the weight of the spent flowers but be sure to spread the seed for the next year. In the following year one can enjoy the foliage, then thin out the seedlings as they approach blooming time but use care not to remove the lower leaves of the plants left as these acts as stilts to support the tower of flowers to come.
This form is also sometimes listed as Geranium maderense 'Album' but we list it as we received it as 'Alba'. For more information on the species see our listing of Geranium maderense. We first planted this form in our garden in 2012 in an area isolated from the many areas that we have the species and collected seed from these plants the following year. We thank Santa Barbara garden designer Rose Keppler who first gave us the seed of this plant in 2011.
This information about Geranium maderense 'Alba' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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