How to Grow Hardy Geraniums

Hardy Geraniums are frost hardy herbaceous perennials not be confused with Pelargoniums (also often called Geraniums,) which are non-hardy and usually feature as summer bedding. 

This group of Geraniums, whose common name is Cranesbill, are fully hardy to  H7 which means they will withstand our winters and return reliably in the spring. Some varieties are herbaceous, some evergreen and all are an attractive, useful border plant which is unfussy about its growing conditions, and mixes well with other plants, especially good with roses. As a bonus, Geraniums are loved by both bees and butterflies.

Geraniums varying significantly in size from Geranium pratense,  the meadow cranesbill, which grows to around 1 meter, to small compact low growing varieties such  Geranium sanguineum which is around 30 cms. The gallery below illustrates around 10 different types of Geranium, the main variation is in size.

Geranium flowers come in  colours of blue, purple, pink and white, often with attractive markings inside the flowers, as in the images below.  There are some planting combinations below, Geranium is teamed up with a Candelabra primula and bright red Geum, and also with Alchemilla mollis where the blue is good against the bright lime green. Geraniums also look good growing around Alliums and will serve to cover Alliums base leaves, which can look tatty, even early in the season.   Some Geraniums are long flowering and will flower right from June to frosts.   This type of Geranium will come back year after year, although the herbaceous varieties will disappear over winter and regrow in the spring. 

If Geraniums are not the garden plant for you, for more ideas check out  summer flowering plants  spring flowering plants  20 Best scented plants  and climbing plants for more inspiring ideas. 

Where to plant Hardy Geraniums

 Geraniums will grow in sun or partial/light shade and will grow in all soils except wet or boggy sites. Growing Geraniums is easy, and they are classified as "green wheelbarrow", making them among the easiest of plants to grow.  Geraniums are undemanding, will return and flower each year and do not need feeding.

In terms of maintenance, to keep Geraniums flowering they are best dead-headed, which can be time-consuming as they may have dozens of spent flowers, more details below.

Planting combinations with Geraniums

Geraniums are versatile and look good planted with many of our garden favourites. Illustrated below are three planting combinations, in addition Geraniums look good planted with Nepeta, low growing roses, Achillea, Salvia, with any summer flowering perennial.

Bee Friendly Geraniums

Many Geraniums have flowers which are a strong blue and purple, which makes Geraniums are attractive to bees. If you are interested in seeing just how attracted bees are to blue Geraniums, take time out to view a short video taken on a lovely warm summer's day. If nothing else, it's a relaxing few minutes with the sounds of summer. In this setting, Geraniums and Chives are planted together to create a bee heaven.

Dead heading and Cutting back Hardy Geraniums

One of the good things about Growing Geraniums is that they need little attention and they will grow in most soils, (except waterlogged,) in full sun or in partial shade. The only effort when growing Geraniums is with regard to dead heading and because most varieties of Geranium produce a lot of flowers, this equates to a lot of dead heading. 

Dead heading can be time consuming and there are two ways of tackling this. One way is to dead head each flower individually, which may be practical at the beginning of the summer, but as more and more flowers appear and die on the plant it can become too time consuming. 

 The image below shows the very large number of spent flowers some Geraniums can produce dead headed in one session. 

The alternative, which is helpful when the foliage becomes tired looking later in the summer, is to cut the plant right back during the summer after it's had a good spell of flowering. It will quickly re grow and produce new green foliage and usually a further flush flowers. If you don't want to look at the bare earth whilst waiting for it to grow back, you can always prune it before  you go on holiday and when you come back there will be a neat green mound of new foliage.

In the images below, the Geranium was cut back on 25th June 2016. As the image shows the plant has become a bit leggy with lots of flowers. It was cut back and in the next image, taken on 26th July 2016 the plant has grown back and started flowering again.

A gallery of Hardy Geraniums to grow

  Geranium x magnificum  illustrated above with the Alchemilla mollis. It grows up to around 90cms, it is deciduous and hardy to H7. It flowers extensively but has a shorter flowering period. It has the RHS award of garden merit. The images of Geraniums below give ideas as to the range and types of flowers in the Geranium group. 

There are many geraniums to choose from in all shades of pink, blue, white and all are easy to grow.

In addition to those illustrated, G. Blue cloud has the AGM award and is a lovely soft blue growing to around 30cms and will grow in sun and partial shade. G. Rozanne 'Gerwat' has the AGM is similar but with a white centre. 

A good white variety with the AGM award is G. macrorrhizum 'White-Ness' which forms a carpet of low growing white flowers

This Geranium Patricia ('Brempat')  has bright magenta coloured flowers with black veins. Long flowering and low growing it prefers a sunny position but will tolerate partial shade  fully hardy.

Geranium sanguineum. var. striatum AGM is a lovely low growing up to 30cms and pale pink variety which has a compact shape,  and long flowering.  Ideal in a sunny spot to the front of a border. 

Geranium Sabani blue has one of the boldest blues of the Geranium family. It will grow up to around 40cms flowering early in the year around April time. 

Geranium pratense

Geranium pratense, which grows up to around 1 meter, flowering from early summer onward, it is deciduous and tolerant of partial shade. 

This Geranium Patricia ('Brempat')  has bright magenta coloured flowers with black veins. long flowering and low growing it prefers a sunny position but will  tolerate partial shade  Fully hardy.

Geranium sanguineum. var. striatum AGM is a lovely low growing up to 30cms and pale pink variety which has a compact shape,  and long flowering.  Ideal in a sunny spot to the front of a border. 

Geranium Sabani blue has one of the boldest blues of the Geranium family. it will grow up to around 40cms flowering early in the year around April time. 

Geranium pratense

Geranium pratense, which grows up to around 1 meter, flowering from early summer onward, it is deciduous and tolerant of partial shade. 

Many Geraniums are long flowering. This final illustration is of  Geranium pyrenaicum common name Hedgerow Geranium which is classified by many as a wild flower although commercially available. It is lovely, upright in growth to around 45-60cms delicate flowers which appear to have 10 petal and lovely pale lilac. It has a sprawling habit but still appears neat and flowers for months and months. 

The image left was taken in November, albeit 2015, which was a very mild Autumn, but still flowering well. This variety is perennial and very similar to Geranium molle, common name Dovesfoot Geranium one of the main differences being the Hedgerow is perennial so much more useful as a garden plant than the annual variety and it is taller.

Last updated 17.01.2021