Hardy
Geraniums - Cranesbills
Half hardy Geraniums / Pelargoniums
here
A wonderful group of plants, and not widely appreciated enough. Quite unlike the half-hardy frost tender plants that we normally call geraniums (properly called Pelargoniums). The common name "cranesbill" comes from the shape of the seed heads after the petals have fallen off that are in the shape of - a crane's bill, (and head).
Hardy Geraniums are the true owners of the name. Unlike the half-hardy Pelargoniums, they come in shades that also occupy the blue-end of the spectrum spreading towards pinks and white but without the deep vivid reds.
The plants are tough and resilient, many are herbaceous perennials that die down in winter and flower again year after year with very little care and attention being necessary to keep their wonderful display going. They grow from about 6" (15cm) to 4ft (120cm) tall depending on variety.
They are at their best around mid June.
Geranium himalayense
Geranium sylvaticum amy doncaster
Geranium nodosum
Geranium clarkei kashmir pink
Geranium anne thomson
Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis'
Geranium x oxonianum claridge druce
Geranium ballerina
Geranium cinereum subcaulescens
The rest of this article comes courtesy of Paul Young to whom I am very grateful for allowing me to use his words and fabulous pictures.
Hardy Geraniums and I first became acquainted back in 1984. I had just bought my first house and, as you do, started filling up the garden with every plant that I could find at the local Notcutts Garden Centre. Of course, I knew nothing of gardening then and choice was determined by nothing more than the picture on the plant label which resulted in planting disasters on a very big scale, how was I to know that Gentiana Verna wouldn't grow in my damp, shady alkaline soil and that half a dozen Mimulus plants would go down without a fight in my baked, sunny front border ?
The one success was a plant that simply mushroomed into a dome of lush green leaf, soon followed by a profusion of the most amazing rich blue saucer shaped flowers. Geranium "Johnson's Blue", it was love at first sight ! A quick trip back to the garden centre found more Geranium varieties and so the love affair began to flourish.
Despite moving house twice since, leaving vast numbers of plants behind on each occasion, the current collection of Hardy Geraniums is now in excess of 200, and growing !