| Description | The "Hardy Geranium" are your true Geraniums, easily hardy to Zone #5. Whereas the red, pink, white, salmon, orange ones, also called Geraniums” are from warmer, temperate climates and are not winter hardy to Zone #5. We have to go back over 250 years and blame Linnaeus for this confusion. |
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| Plant Type | Perennials Hardy, Site author's observations |
| Hardiness Zone | 4-8 |
| Sunlight | full sun to semi shade, a few for drier sites |
| Moisture | average to moist soils, some for the drier soils. |
| Soil & Site | average to moist to dry |
| Flowers | The flowers have 5 equal and usually over lapping petals, ten stamens, many have notched petals and most expel their seeds in an explosive manner. Color palette is purple, pink, white, violet, rose-pink, purplish-red and blue. |
| Fruit | distinctive beaked seed capsules, hence the common name of crane’s bill (geranium in Greek means crane |
| Leaves | palmate lobed, dissected, usually opposite, many have nice fall color. |
| Dimensions | Most are short to medium in height with a medium spread. |
| Maintenance | Most like to be cut back after flowering to encourage a new flush of growth |
| Propagation | Almost all by division or cuttings, some from seed and a few from root cuttings. |
| Author's Notes | The name cranesbill comes from the top of the fruit (carpels), which forms a beak-like structure. Word derived from Greek geranion, a crane. In 1753, Linnaeus lumped the Pelargonium and Geranium into one genus "Geranium". In 1789 the two genus were separated by an amateur French botanists, but the confusion had already set in. |
| Notes & Reference | #04-Herbaceous Perennial Plants (Allan Armitage), #06-Perennials for the American Gardens (Clasusen and Ekastro),#29-Hardy Geraniums (Peter F. Yeo), #36-Encyclopedia of Perennials (Christopher Woods) |
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