Cranesbill (Bloody Cranesbill)
Geranium sanguineum. GERANIACEAE.
Planting and Growing Cranesbill
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow cranesbill in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of cranesbill
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for cranesbill
- Season of bloom and planting time for cranesbill
- When, how deep, and where to plant cranesbill
- How to plant cranesbill
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of cranesbill
- Landscape and container uses of cranesbill
- Comments about cranesbill and its features
Growing Cranesbill
Many cultivars of mounding, spreading, rhizomatous, deciduous perennial herbs, 6–18 in. (15–45 cm) tall, 2 ft. (60 cm) wide. Smooth, bright to deep green, maplelike, 5- or 7-lobed, finely cut leaves, to 2 in. (50 mm) long, turning bright red in autumn.
See also Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum, a closely related species with similar care needs, and Florist’s Geranium, Pelargonium X hortorum, many repeat-blooming geranium hybrids with attractive foliage and large, showy flowers.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Solitary pink, purple, red, white, 5-petaled flowers, 1–2 in. (25–50 mm) wide, sometimes with contrasting veins, in late spring–summer.
Best Climates
Hardy. Zones 3–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Average. 6.0–8.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full to filtered sun, 1 ft. (30 cm) apart, after soil warms.
Proper Care
Easy–moderate. Keep damp until established; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Fertilize annually in spring. Deadhead spent flowers to promote new buds. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, borders, edgings, filler, foregrounds, ground covers in cottage, natural, rock, wildflower, woodland gardens. Pest and disease resistant.