Rain Garden Plants: Wild Geranium

Pink-purple flowers are each 1 to 1.5 inches wide with five petals. Petals may have dark, fine lines along length. Grows in clumps 18 to 24 inches tall and 2 feet wide. Leaves are semi-evergreen and have five lobes. Leaf margins have coarse teeth. Underside of leaves have coarse, white hairs. Bees and flies are common pollinators. Ants and beetles also visit flowers.

Height: 8 to 18 inches
Bloom color: Pink
Bloom time: April to May
Hardiness zone: 3 to 9
Salt tolerance: N/A
Spreading habit: Creeping rhizomes; colonizing ground cover; will produce underground stems that spread out horizontally and shallowly, produce roots, and then send up new shoots; also catapults seeds 10 to 30 feet from parent plant

Site Conditions

Sun: Sun/partial shade
Soil: Tolerates alkaline and dry soil; humus-rich
Hydrologic zones: Moist/dry

Sources

Jull, L. G. “Winter Salt Injury and Salt-Tolerant Landscape Plants.” Madison: University of Wisconsin Extension, 2009.

The Morton Arboretum

Prepared by Jessica Chou, Jodi Sulpizio, and Constance Schmotzer. All images: Jodi Sulpizio, Penn State Extension.