Hardy geraniums

Easy and dependable, hardy geraniums provide us with months of flowers and effective groundcover, says Graham Rice

- Graham Rice

IF in doubt, plant a geranium,” wrote English cottage-garden pioneer Margery Fish. And in the past 50 or 60 years, hardy geraniums, also known as cranesbills, have become established as Britain’s most valuable, most appreciated, and most collected hardy perennial. Not only that, but one hardy geranium was even voted as Plant of the Centenary!

Not to be confused with the frosttender geraniums of window boxes and bedding schemes, hardy geraniums, while lacking in flamboyance, make up for this their long flowering season, their resilience, their weed suppressing effectiveness and their knack for mingling with other plants.

Hardy geraniums in the garden 

One reason that hardy geraniums are so popular is that they have so many uses. There are varieties for sun or shade, for moist soil and dry, and for rich soil and poor. There are dwarf and compact varieties for the front of the border, large and bushy varieties for the middle ground, and groundcover varieties that have a long season of attractive colouring and prevent weed growth.

A few well-chosen varieties of hardy geraniums, and one or two slightly less hardy varieties, make fine container plants, cascading into clouds of colour as they tumble over the sides. A few will clamber into mature shrubs, behaving almost as climbers.

Flowering from spring to autumn, if you’re looking for flowers in blue or lilac shades, in pinks, in white and with pretty patterns and markings, and often with a bright white eye – all set off by attractive foliage – then the range is extraordinary.