Introducing...
Hardy geraniums
Common name: cranesbill
Hardy geraniums are long-lived, easy-to-grow plants with one for virtually every garden situation. Attractive foliage and pretty flower colours lend them to a variety of garden styles.
Looks
- Thin stems carrying saucer-shaped flowers in shades of white, pink, blue or purple, sometimes attractively veined with darker colours
- Most geraniums make mounds of soft, mid-green foliage
- Foliage often flushes with autumn colour before dying back by winter, remerging in spring
- A few like G. malviflorum flower in spring and then are summer dormant, while others like G. cinereum 'Ballerina' are greyish-leaved and small enough for rock gardens or gravel beds
Likes
- Most hardy geraniums make good underplanting in sunny shrub, rose and herbaceous borders
- Some species like G. macrorrhizum and its cultivars are great groundcover in shaded spots under trees
- A further group of more diminuitive geraniums like G. cinereum cultivars and G. dalmaticum suit sunny rock gardens with sharp drainage or containers
Dislikes
- Hardy geraniums dislike permanently wet soils that can lead to root rotting
- Hot summer sun may cause soft leaves to wilt and shorten the flowering season
Did you know?
- Many of the geraniums suited to border planting can be chopped back hard after flowering. They'll then produce a fresh head of foliage and often more flowers
- Pelargoniums, sometimes informally called geraniums, are popular for summer bedding displays
Growing guide
How to grow geraniums
All the information you'll need to grow and care for geraniums in your garden.
Geraniums for sunny borders
Geranium Dreamland ('Bremdream'PBR)
cranesbill [Dreamland]
- 0.1–0.5 metres
- 0.1–0.5 metres
Geranium psilostemon
Armenian cranesbill
- 0.5–1 metres
- 0.1–0.5 metres
Geranium Dreamland ('Bremdream'PBR)
cranesbill [Dreamland]
- 0.1–0.5 metres
- 0.1–0.5 metres
Geranium psilostemon
Armenian cranesbill
- 0.5–1 metres
- 0.1–0.5 metres
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Useful advice
Dividing perennials
Growing plants in containers
Hampton Hack
Herb robert
Perennial borders: choosing plants
Perennials: cutting back
Plants for under trees
Shade planting: annuals, bulbs and perennials
Get involved
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