Geranium maculatum is a native Ohio wildflower that blooms in April and May in shades of pink or lilac, and occasionally white. It will take full sun to part shade in the home garden, and prefers rich, humusy soil like you’d find in a woodland continually fed by composting leaves.
Common names include Wild Geranium and Cranesbill. The latter name for the seed capsules which resemble a crane’s head with its long beak. When seeds are ripe, the capsules burst and toss their seeds. It will naturalize to form a colony when it’s happy.
Geranium maculatum flowers best in part sun with adequate moisture. Too much sun and drought and the leaves yellow and drop, going dormant in the summer. With adequate water, they will keep their leaves all season long.
The spring blooms attract pollinators including native bees, syrphid flies, bumblebees, and honeybees. Companion plants include maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), wood ferns (Dryopteris species), woodland creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera), Trillium, columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), wild stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides), mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum), and Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum).
March 2021 newsletter
