By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Geranium maderense, a short-lived, statuesque geranium native to Madeira, has a short life span.  It dies after it blooms in its second or third year.  But, as you can see from the photo below, when it blooms, it blooms spectacularly.  And with all those flowers you get lots of seed.  So one plant leads to a constant supply thereafter.

I've never seen G. maderense quite as happy as it is in this slopeside setting in Gloria and Rand Molnar's garden in Santa Barbara, California, however.  The dappled shade provided by the grove of eucalyptus trees seems to suit G. madarense perfectly. The Molnars are near the coast, which helps, too.  And the plants get plenty of room to spread out, which they need -- those branched inflorescences can be two feet across or more.  So the Molnars are blessed with tons of blooming geraniums every year.  Gloria expects to have 110 to 130 plants in bloom this year.