Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 3' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Native to large swathes of the US Mountain West, this tough and drought-tolerant geranium inhabits pine forests and woodland edges. It blooms continuously mid-Spring to mid-Summer, sending up a sprawling, many-branched flower stalk. A rosette of evergreen foliage typically persists through the winter.

Sun: Full
Size: 1' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

Carolina Cranesbill is a low-growing annual native to Nebraska. It thrives in poor, dry soils with partial to full sun, forming a sprawling mound of dissected foliage. The tiny, pale pink flowers attract long- and short-tongued bees, and its seeds are favored by mourning doves. It has brilliant red autumn foliage and seeds freely around the garden.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

This geranium hails from the wilderness of Alaska and it embodies the rugged spirit of its native habitat. The flowers are a pale purple-blue with a roughly 1-inch diameter. Its petals are adorned with dark radial stripes, and the flowers feature deep purple stamens. The flowers are held vertically above the basal mound of foliage.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 1' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

A hardy subspecies of Geranium incanum, this low-growing plant is native to the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. Its finely-dissected foliage forms a lush, soft, and delicate carpet supporting magnificent purple blooms with white eyes. This geraniums appreciates well-drained soil with moderate organic matter for moisture retention. 

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring

Bigroot Cranesbill is named for its large, succulent rhizomes that grow above the soil surface. It slowly spreads to forms dense, weed-suppressing colonies, even in dry shade. The leaves produce a pine- or lemon-scented aromatic oil which makes the plants highly distasteful to rabbits. This geranium is very tough and easy to grow.

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring

Wild Cranesbill is a woodland wildflower native to Nebraska and loved for its showy, pinkish-purple saucer-shaped flowers. Thriving in partial to full shade, it can tolerate full sun in moist soils. This species is highly attractive to solitary bees, bumblebees, and butterflies, and serves as a larval host for the White-Marked Tussock Moth.

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Fall

The glossy leaves and lovely pearlescent blooms brighten the shady areas where it thrives. It can even handle dry shade under trees where other plants may struggle. This geranium has smallish flowers but a very long bloom season, from around June to September. It can be slow to establish, but patience is rewarded.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Oregon Cranesbill is native to the mountain forests of western North America, from California to Alberta. It appreciates plenty of dappled sunlight and average moisture in well-drained soil. The plant offers a graceful display of lavender-purple flowers over a mound of deeply-lobed foliage.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Geranium palustre prefers consistently moist or even damp soils, such as near a pond or other boggy garden site. It also makes a perfect candidate for a rain garden. Marsh Cranesbill blooms in vibrant shades of mid-pink to cerise with flowers borne in pairs on its wandering stems. 

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Also called Mourning Widow, this geranium is native to woods and moist alpine meadows throughout southern and central Europe. It features soft green basal leaves measuring 4–8 inches across and blooms from late spring to early summer. Its deep maroon-purple blooms, measuring up to 1 inch in diameter, have slightly reflexed petals and a contrasting lighter center ring. Dusky Cranesbill thrives in the shadier areas of the garden.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Geranium platyanthum is a rare and distinctive perennial native to Korea and Japan, admired for its impressive foliage and delicate flowers. This plant forms a lush mound of large, coarse, hairy, and shallowly lobed leaves, providing a bold texture and vibrant light-green hue. Its foliage transitions to spectacular technicolor shades in autumn. The blooms are typically blueish-purple with pale centers, sometimes nodding gracefully. 

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

Geranium pogonanthum is a very rare and elegant perennial native to the high-altitude regions of Sichuan and Yunnan in China, extending into northern Myanmar. The flowers are reflexed similar to G. phaeum, but with bold magenta-purple petals, reddish stamens, and dark anthers. It is called 'bearded cranesbill' because of the white tufts at the base of the stamens around the nectaries.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

Meadow Cranesbill is a vigorous, clump-forming perennial native to the meadows and grasslands of Europe and the UK. Its finely-cut, deeply-lobed leaves form a dramatic mound up to 24 inches tall. Many cultivars of varying colors are commercially available, but the natural form sports soft, clear blue flowers with light veining. This species is very easy to grow in our Nebraska climate.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

See description for Geranium pratense. This seed strain has marvelous variegated petals, each flower with a different pattern of blue and white lines and splotches. Sometimes whole petals are blue or white on the same flower. 

Disclaimer: Seed-grown plants are genetically distinct from their parents and may display different characteristics.

(Photo credit Hardy Plant Society)

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Fall

Hedgerow Cranesbill is a fast-growing, sprawling perennial celebrated for its exceptionally long flowering season. From spring through fall, it produces abundant vivid violet flowers with heart-shaped, deeply notched petals, forming a vibrant cloud of color above soft, fuzzy leaves. Reliable and easy to grow, G. pyrenaicum self-sows readily to fill in bare spots.

(Photo credit Hardy Plant Society)

Sun: Partial
Size: 1' tall x 1' wide
Blooms: Summer

Also called Renard Geranium, this plant is prized for its scalloped, velvety foliage and delicate flowers. Native to the rocky cliffs of the Caucasus Mountains, it forms a short, dense mound of gray-green leaves that turn a soft yellow in fall. This drought-tolerant species thrives in hot, dry, sunny borders and poor soils, making it an excellent choice for rock gardens.

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

Geranium richardsonii is a wildflower native to moist and shady habitats across the mountainous regions of the American West, extending into British Columbia. The plant displays flowers from late spring to summer in shades of white to pale pink, adorned with delicate purple veins. Growing from a woody taproot, it thrives in loamy or clay soils with medium to wet moisture conditions.

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

One of the best hardy geraniums for a sunny site. Bloody Cranesbill is drought-tolerant and very cold hardy. Its finely-dissected foliage adds soft texture to the garden. This plant is very easy to grow and spreads slowly through creeping underground rhizomes. True to its name, its foliage turns blood red in autumn. Like all geraniums, it is very attractive to bees.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Geranium shensianum is native to China, and exceptionally rare, admired for its unique reflexed, bicolored flowers. The tiny flowers, which bloom from June to August, are characterized by their striking brick-red petals accented with cream, a color combination uncommon among geraniums. It prefers moist but well-drained soil in a semi-shaded position.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

A rare and captivating species native to Japan and South Korea, Geranium shikokianum makes an excellent ground cover for shaded or semi-shaded areas. This bushy plant forms compact clumps of deeply-cut, marbled leaves. Its rose-pink, funnel-shaped flowers feature a prominent white eye and intricate light purple veins.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Commonly known as Japanese cranesbill, Geranium soboliferum is native to the mountains of central Japan. This plant forms dense mounds of finely-dissected, ferny leaves, which turn a vivid red or cinnamon hue in autumn. The magenta flowers are adorned with darker veining and a subtle white star at the center. It prefers moist soils.

(Photo credit Hardy Plant Society)

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring to Summer

Wood Cranesbill is native to European woodlands and meadows. It forms a bushy mound of deeply divided, toothed leaves with 7–9 lobes, providing attractive foliage throughout the growing season. From June to July, it showcases bright violet-blue flowers with a delicate white center. It thrives in light shade and average soils with consistent summer moisture. 

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 1' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer to Fall

This charming, low-growing geranium sports distinctive variegated foliage, an irregular mosaic of cream, white, and various shades of green.  Younger leaves are often tinged with pink, particularly in cooler weather. Its trailing stems spread over a foot or more, producing small, pale pink flowers. It has a prolific self-seeding tendency with seedlings displaying unique patterns of variegation.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring

Sticky Geranium forms a mound of deeply divided leaves and produces a profusion of magenta, saucer-shaped flowers in early Spring. The plant is covered in distinctive sticky glandular hairs on its leaves and stems. These can dissolve and absorb nitrogen from insects trapped on its surface, classifying the plant as protocarnivorous. 

Sun: Partial
Size: 1' tall x 3' wide
Blooms: Summer to Fall

Wallich cranesbill is a prostrate perennial native to the highland regions of the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Bhutan. A sprawling plant, it forms a small crown with long flowering stems and lightly marbled leaves. It blooms throughout summer until the first frosts. This geranium is ideal for cascading over walls or trailing from large containers.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 3' wide
Blooms: Summer to Fall

Native to the damp grasslands of eastern Siberia, Mongolia, and northeastern China, Siberian Cranesbill forms a low mound with long trailing stems. Its velvety foliage is among the best of all geraniums, taking on brilliant shades of red, orange, and golden yellow in fall. This vibrant autumn display rivals the foliage of many deciduous shrubs.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Summer

Geranium yesoense is a compact, clump-forming perennial native to Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan. This species forms a bushy mound with rhizomatous roots and long stems, making it useful as a low-growing ground cover in lightly shaded borders. During summer, G. yesoense produces delicate, 1-inch-wide flowers in shades of pink or white, veined with darker purple.

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 1' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring

‘Biokovo’ is a vigorous, semi-evergreen, mat-forming perennial, renowned for its delicate yet profuse floral display and year-round ornamental appeal. This cultivar was discoverd in the Biokovo Mountains of Croatia as a naturally occurring hybrid of G. dalmaticum and G. macrorrhizum. Its scented foliage makes it highly resistant to rabbits. It is also the winner of the 2015 PPA Perennial Plant of the Year.

Sun: Partial
Size: 2' tall x 3' wide
Blooms: Summer to Fall

Renowned for its striking violet-blue flowers and bright foliage, this cultivar forms a low spreading mound. The leaves emerge amber-yellow in spring, gradually transitioning to chartreuse by summer, with red highlights appearing in autumn. Its resilience, sprawling habit, and long-flowering period have earned it an Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

(Photo credit Hardy Plant Society)

Sun: Full to Partial
Size: 1' tall x 3' wide
Blooms: Summer to Fall

Named after British geranium enthusiast Dilys Davis, its vibrant flowers and vigorous growth habit have earned it the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM). A hybrid between G. sanguineum and G. procurrens, this low-sprawling geranium forms a profusion of bright magenta flowers deep purple veins and eyes. It blooms nonstop from midsummer until the first frost.

(Photo credit Hardy Plant Society)

Sun: Partial to Shade
Size: 1' tall x 2' wide
Blooms: Spring

‘Karmina’ is prized for its vibrant flowers, aromatic foliage, and adaptability. This low-growing, mat-forming perennial reaches a height of 6-10 inches and is an excellent ground cover, quickly forming a dense, spreading carpet. From late spring to midsummer, it produces an abundance of lilac-pink flowers, emerging from deep red buds. The leaves are aromatic and are distasteful to rabbits.