What do you think when geraniums are mentioned? Gardeners in frostless or near frostless regions probably visualize the showy pelargonium or one of its ilk.
But speak of geraniums to the gardener of the Northwest or of England or too many an eastern gardener, and they will refer to the hardy geraniums or cranesbills, wildflowers of Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America.
In climates where winter cold is not extreme and where rainfall is plentiful, many of these hardy geraniums and their hybrids are used in woodland, bog, wildflower, and rock gardens and perennial borders.
Even in the frigid North Central States, in Maine, and in the cold Rockies of Canada and the United States, one finds some lovely native geraniums. Other neater growing hardy geraniums are cultivated in these areas, and a few of these have strayed from gardens and become “wild.”
Hardy Geraniums Easy To Identify
Most hardy geraniums are easy to identify with the help of a wildflower book, but in Mexico, the geraniums bogged me down, and I have never been able to get them straightened out.
They grow there in hot barrancas, as well as in woods where the graceful pink geraniums prettily soften the stiff, tall blue candelabra of lupines.
Geranium Pratense
Occasionally Geranium pratense produces pure white seedlings, which are lovely and are grown frequently in gardens in Southern States.
In two English cottage gardens, I found a double dark purple form of this plant. Although Geranium pratense likes acid muck and is content with any kind of loam, it is also happy in the lime cliffs of England.
In Wales, there is a particularly good form with large flowers of a clean blue and stalks 3′ feet tall. There are some amazingly fine strains in English and Canadian gardens also.
Some hardy geraniums are weedy things, and others are muddy magenta in flower color. But there are many others with blooms of rich blues and purples and soft shades of pink.
Geranium Sanguineum The Blood-Red Cranesbill
The reddest species is the blood-red cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum, a European wildflower that quickly spreads into a 1′-foot high mat covered with bloom from early spring to late summer.
But, I regret to state, the flowers of most sanguineum forms are not really blood red but ruby with dark centers. There is also an engaging white form.
The wild geranium which comes nearest to having red flowers is Geranium subcaulescens from the mountain peaks of Greece. It is a real rock plant and revels in gravel and stone chips.
It makes a mat of low woody stems and silvery gray leaves. The flowers of all its forms are some shade of red; the best is cherry red with a black center.
Geranium napuligerum is a green 6″-inch plant with thick, velvety leaves and prettily veined light pink petals and black anthers.
These last two plants are especially popular because they are easy to grow as long as they have good drainage and sun. They come readily from seed.
Wild Geraniums and Their Hybrids
Fifty or more of these wild geraniums and their hybrids are in cultivation, and there are others, not in the trade, which are worth growing.
If you include the geranium’s close relative, erodium or heronsbill, the number would run to almost 300.
As a rule, they are easy to satisfy as long as they do not have to stand long drought. They bloom freely and over long periods; in temperate climates same are everblooming.