Geranium

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Geranium phaeum Lily Lovell Geranium:

(Common Name: Cranesbill, Hardy Geranium).

The common name is a reference to the shape of the seed capsules. Hardy Geraniums should not be confused with their half-hardy distant cousins, the Pelagoniums, which are commonly called Geraniums just to confuse things!

Different species require different conditions and there is a Geranium to suit most gardens.

Geraniums are great plants for bees.

Read about Geraniums for foliage interest in our garden diary for September 2011.

Not all "Hardy Geraniums" are hardy! - all of ours are though.

Propagation and care differs between species - see below for specific notes.

Geranium x.cantabrigiense St. Ola: This has neat, fleshy, glossy, pale green, ground hugging leaves and pure white flowers fading to a slightly pink shade. Good in sun or part shade and is drought tolerant. It flowers early - mid summer, repeating in late summer / autumn.

This type of the Geranium is a cross between GG. dalmaticum and macrorrhizum.

This one is easy to propagate by division - the trailing stems root easily if detached from the parent plant.

Geranium cinereum: An alpine or front of border plant forming neat cushions of foliage. I grow this type in full sun and very well drained soil. New plants are started off from stem cuttings and these can be a bit tricky to root and one of the standard books on Geraniums gives a fairly complicated method for success. Cuttings are best taken in spring although I have had success in autumn.

Geranium cinereum Ballerina

Veined purple flowers on and off from May through to September.

Bred by Alan Bloom and probably one of his most famous introductions.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium cinereum Carol

Lovely deep rose veined flowers on mounding plants.

Geranium clarkei: These originate from Kashmir and grow to about 12" tall in flower. They do spread by underground stems and create a patch about 2ft across in 2 years in our fairly poor soil. The main flowering period is from May to July and occasionally again from late August.

They can self seed a very little and in our experience revert to the natural purple form so its wise to rogue out these seedlings before they spread into the rest of the clump.

Propagation of the named types is by division in spring.

Geranium clarkei

Large pale violet flowers.

Perfect Partners: Geranium clarkei creeps around in poor soil growing through self-seeded clumps of the lovely wavy grass Stipa tenuissima, all against a backdrop of the red-bronze leaves of the shrub Physocarpus Diablo. Photographed in late May

Geranium clarkei Kashmir Pink

Pale pink flowers over mounds of finely divided leaves.

Geranium clarkei Kashmir White

Pink-veined, chalky white flowers and dark green foliage.

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Geranium dalmaticum: Grows into a ground covering mat of small leaves and trailing stems topped by flowers in late spring / early summer. In our experience this type doesn't rebloom. Good in sun or partial shade and very tolerant of dry conditions.

Propagation is by division in spring.

Geranium dalmaticum

Glossy leaves and pink flowers in late spring, a favourite with bumblebees. Makes a spreading mat. A favourite with the bees!

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium dalmaticum Album

Pure white version of the species that is a little less vigorous.

Geranium Elke

Sanguineum type but with large white-edged pink flowers for a long season. Low mat former and a great edger.

Geranium himilayense: Forms a carpet of typical geranium leaves and grows to about 12" tall in flower. The flowers are large and saucer shaped. Blooms from early summer and most types rebloom on and off throughout the season. These do spread by underground stems are if left undivided will colonise a large space in time. I like to lift them regularly and divide. Good in sun and will take a fair amount of shade. Succeeds in the toughest situations - "Irish Blue" grows right at the base of my laurel hedge in full sun.

Propagate by division and also by root cuttings.

Geranium himilayense Derrick Cook

Very large pink-veined white flowers, bringing to mind a giant version of "Kashmir White", on and off from June to autumn.

Geranium himilayense Gravetye

Mauve-centred deep blue flowers, on and off from June to autumn. Tough and adaptable to full sun or light shade. 1ft tall.

These send up new shoots around the plant, so propagation is by division. Root cuttings are also possible.

RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Geranium himilayense Irish Blue

Pale, pinkish blue flowers, endlessly from May to autumn. One of the best and most reliable flowers amongst hardy geraniums. 2ft tall and spreading to about the same in 2 years.

Geranium himilayense Flore Plenum

(Also known as Birch's Double) This is a lovely plant with Double violet-blue flowers on low-growing stems.

Geranium Johnson's Blue

Good, true blue flowers, held well above the mound of foliage in May - July and sometimes repeating in Autumn.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

This is a cross between GG. himilayense and pratense.

Propagation is the same himilayense types.

Geranium macrorrhizum: One of my favourite "grow anywhere" plants with (usually) scented leaves and trailing fleshy stems. Makes a great evergreen ground cover and grows in dry, dense shade as well as sunnier aspects.

The mounds of foliage grow to about 1ft - 1ft 6in tall and will spread to cover a good area over the years. Easy to pull out excess plants as they grow from surface rooting stems, not deep rooted. Propagation is by easily rooting these stems at any time of the growing season.

The leaves often take on good autumn tints in dry conditions.

Geranium macrorrhizum Album

Scented leaves, white flowers with pink stamens in May - June.

From Bulgaria originally.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium Czakor

Exceptionally aromatic leaves. Bright magenta flowers May to June.

Geranium macrorrhizum White-Ness

Discovered on an expedition by Ness Botanic Gardens, this form has pure white flowers over a very long period - even carrying some flower into the autumn. Unlike other varieties, the leaves are glossy and are not aromatic leading me to suspect it is cross with another species. RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium orientalitibeticum

From SW China this is a rapidly spreading plant growing from tiny tubers. Valuable for its marbled leaves and white-centred pink flowers throughout the summer. Only plant this where you want a good ground cover. Alternatively keep it in a large pot or alpine pan. About 6in tall. Best in sun.

Geranium x.oxonianum: These are hybrids between GG. endressii and versicolor and form clumps of large leaves and slowly spreading to occupy about 2ft across in a couple of years.

They grow to about 1ft - 1ft 6in tall and flower from early summer repeating throughout the summer if cut back after each flush. They will self seed if not deadheaded.

I grow them in more or less full sun in dry soils but the books say they can be grown in shade as well.

Propagation of named types is by division although some will come true from seed this can't be relied on.

Geranium x.oxonianum Katherine Adele

Grown as much for its olive and brown marked leaves as for the pale pink veined flowers. In full sun the markings become more pronounced and take on orangey tints.

Geranium x.oxanianum Lace Time © 2006 SpecialPerennials.com

Geranium x.oxonianum Lace Time

Pearlescent pink veined flowers.

Geranium x.oxonianum f. thurstonianum Sherwood

The star-shaped pink flowers appear from June onwards on semi-upright plants reaching 2ft.

Geranium Patricia

Raised by Alan Bremer. Brilliant magenta with a black eye. Flowers all summer. Quite bushy plants about 1ft 6in tall. It is a hybrid of GG. endressii and psilostemon.

Divide in spring. We've had failures in a cold winter when dividing in autumn.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium phaeum: Great for dry shade these plants from neat clumps of large, often patterned leaves and have flowers on top of 2ft stems in late spring into summer and often continue in the late summer, albeit reduced in number.

These will self seed, but not excessively but we propagate by division to ensure purity of type. I only divide plants in spring as they don't do well in pots in winter but for planting in the garden they can be divided in autumn.

Geranium phaeum Album

Pure white form.

Geranium phaeum Lavender Pinwheel

Lovely purplish lavender flowers.

Geranium phaeum Lily Lovell

Bushy plants with green leaves marked with maroon. The 2ft flower stems carry a succession of white-eyed purple flowers from late May through to July. Good in sun or partial shade

Divide in spring or autumn. Cut the plants back hard and break up into individual or groups of leaf buds found at the base of the plant.

See Lily Lovell in a perfect garden partnership in Gardener's Diary for May 2009

Geranium phaeum Margaret Wilson

One of our favourites with very striking pale green and white striped leaves and pink-purple flowers.

Geranium phaeum Samobor

White-centred, maroon flowers and heavily maroon blotched leaves. Reaches about 2ft - 2ft 6in / 60-70cm and gets its best leaf colour in shade. It will grow in dry shade but performs best with some moisture. Flowers late May to July. May have the odd flower stem later in autumn.

Geranium phaeum Variegatum

Leaves boldly splashed with white, red and silver. Flowers are the typical phaeum maroon colour.

Geranium pratense Mrs Kendall Clark

Blue and silver flowers like Mother of Pearl on 2ft 6in (75cm) stems. Mounds of divided leaves. Blooms May - July and sometimes again September - October.

Divide in spring or autumn. Can be grown from seed but results whilst fairly good aren't quite the same as the true type - label any seed raised plants with "Group" at the end of the name to avoid confusion with the true plant.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium sanguineum: Good ground cover for well-drained soil in sun. Low growing (about 9 - 12" tall) and giving good autumn leaf colour. Best in sun.

Give the plants a trim after the first flush of flowers (May - July) and they will flower again later in summer.

They will seed but not come true. Best propagated by division or even root cuttings.

Read more about Geranium sanguineum as autumn bloomers in our garden diary for October 2010.

Geranium sanguineum Album

Pure white version of this lovely mat forming plant. Rather more upright than other types

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium sanguineum Elsbeth

Bright purple, large flowers.

Geranium sanguineum Glenluce

Pale rose pink variety discovered by A T Johnson in 1937 growing near Glenluce in Scotland.

Geranium sanguineum John Elsley

Mat forming plants with distinctly veined bright magenta flowers.

Geranium sanguineum Max Frei

Extra large, deep rose pink flowers.

Geranium sanguineum Nyewood

Light purple flowers

Geranium sanguineum Striatum

Pale pink flowers with deeper rose veins in early summer and again in autumn.

RHS Award of Garden Merit

Geranium sanguineum Vision Violet

Violet flowers as you might expect.

Geranium Stephanie

Leaves like Geranium renardii and pearly Parma Violet flowers from April - June. Low growing and okay in dry soils. Needs a sunny spot.

Propagate by division in spring.

Geranium wallichianum Buxton's Variety

Trailing plants with white-eyed blue flowers throughout the summer. Pale green, marbled leaves. Difficult to propagate - not easy to divide. Expensive seed is the only viable way. Best in sun/part sun - best blue colour in shade. RHS Award of Garden Merit