Flower Garden Plants: Geraniums

Geraniums are another popular flower for planting in a wild flower garden. The Wild Geranium, Spotted Geranium, or Crane's Bill is also sometimes called Alum Root. The scientific name for this wild flower is Geranium maculatum. It has pale magenta, puplish pink or lavendar flowers of about one to one and a half inch in size. Sometimes the flowers grow in pairs and have a pair of leaves at their base, and there tends to be five petals on each flower.

The wild geranium grows one to two feet tall and has hairy, slender branches. It has three to five parted leaves which tend to be clefted and toothed. Older plants may have white spottings on the leaves. One of the reason's this is sometimes called a Crane's Bill, is because this wild flower produces a slender capsule-like seed pod that looks similar to a Crane's bill.

When the seed pod is mature, the seeds actually eject far from the parent plant too. Wild Geraniums prefer open woods, thickets and shady roadsides, and they bloom from April to July. They grow well in the eastern or midwestern parts of the U.S., such as Georgia.

In barren soil, from Canada to the Gulf and far westward, the Carolina Crane's-Bill (G. Carolinianum) is an erect, much-branched little plant resembling the spotted geranium in general features. It has more compact clusters of pale rose or whitish flowers which grow to barely half an inch across in size. The seed "beak" on this one grows to about one inch at full maturity.

Another interesting Geranium is known by common names of Herb Robert; Red Robin; Red Shanks; Dragon's Blood. The scientific name is Geranium Robertianum. This one carries purplish rose flowers which are about a half inch across in size. The flowers sport five petals and tend to stick together in pairs. This geranium has a slender, weaker stem with many forked, spreading branches and is slightly hairy.

It grows just six to eighteen inches high and because of this, could make a nice naturalized ground cover. The stems on this plant are only green when it's still young. As it ages it starts turning a red color, thus earning the name "red shanks". Eventually the leaves too will start showing stains of crimson, which is why some call it "dragon's blood".

The leaves on this geranium actually have a strong scent - particularly when crushed - and the plant produces a small capsule-like seed pod up to one inch long. The scent from this wild flower's leaves isn't agreeable to everyone though. This geranium likes rocky, moist woods and shady roadsides. It flowers from May to October and does well in Pennsylvania, and westward to Missouri.

Different types of geraniums