Description
Geranium maculatum
CT P
Soil: Moist, Humusy, Well-drained
Moisture: Average to Moist
Light: Full to Part Sun (prefers part sun)
Plant Height: 1 to 2 feet
Plant Width: 1 to 1.5 feet
Pests: None
Landscape Value: Great for partly shaded areas of borders and rock gardens, open woodland gardens, and shade gardens. Makes a good ground cover if planted en masse.
Bright spring flowers and attractive foliage all season long! Clump-forming perennial with deeply cut, 5-lobed, dark green leaves. Showy, loose clusters of pink to lilac (occasionally white), 5-petaled, upturned flowers occur atop leafy stems and bloom in spring. Petals have fine, darker-colored lines running their length that function as nectar guides to draw in large numbers of native solitary bees, bumblebees, Syrphid flies, and butterflies. Flowers give way to beaked seed capsules. As capsules dry out, seeds are catapulted away from the parent plant. Eastern chipmunks and some birds, including mourning doves and bobwhite quails, feed on the seeds. Foliage may yellow in summer if soil is allowed to dry out. In optimal growing conditions, spreads by underground stems (rhizomes) to form colonies, but is not aggressive. Tolerates poor soil, short periods of drought, and full sun if moisture is sufficient. Larval host for white-marked tussock moths.
5-pint pot
Photo credits:
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (photo by Thomas Muller)
minnesotawildflowers.info (photos by K. Chayka)
University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension
