Types of Hardy Geraniums – Light and Habit

Buy hardy geranium by light and habit, not by a shared pink cup. Sun mats, long-bloom sprawl, bigroot carpets, woodland types, and alpine edges are different jobs. This page is genus Geranium only — not Pelargonium bedding pots. Sort all 53 hardy geraniums here. Care stays on How to Grow Hardy Geraniums.

Choose by light and habit

Max Frei is a low sunny mat. Rozanne and Johnson’s Blue are long-bloom hybrids that want bright light. Bevan’s Variety and Biokovo are scented-leaf carpets for part shade. Samobor is a woodland type. Ballerina is an alpine edge plant. Flower color does not tell you how much sun to give or how wide the plant will run. Read light and habit on the tag before you copy a watering schedule from a neighbor’s clump.

Cranesbill is the beak-shaped seed. That nickname does not change class. If the tag says only “geranium,” ask whether it is hardy Geranium or a tender Pelargonium before you plan a winter-hardy carpet. A zonal window-box plant will not overwinter like a cranesbill mat. Divide when clumps congest on Dividing Hardy Geraniums. Season-long bloomers live on Long-Blooming Hardy Geraniums.

• Ask sun mat vs long-bloom sprawl vs dry-shade carpet vs woodland vs alpine before you copy one watering.
• Rozanne-class continuous bloom still needs bright light. Deep dark shade is not a long-bloom shortcut.

Wrong geranium buys that look like a types page

• Bedding geranium for a groundcover job — Pelargonium zonal pots are tender summer color, not hardy Geranium carpets.
• Rozanne in deep shade — Rozanne needs bright light to repeat. A dark north bed gets one weak flush.
• Alpine on heavy clay — Ballerina wants sharp drain at a sunny edge, not soggy border mud.
• One care tag for the whole table — sun mats and woodland carpets do not share one water schedule. Wargrave Pink is a border filler after light is locked, not a third genus.
• Johnson’s Blue as a dry-shade carpet — Johnson’s Blue is a mound for brighter light, not Bevan’s Variety under a yew.

What light and habit offer

Long-bloom hybrids. Rozanne, Orion, Brookside, Patricia, Johnson’s Blue, Ann Folkard, Dreamland. They sprawl and repeat when light is open. Shear after a heat pause if bloom stalls. They are not dry-shade carpets and not alpines. Orion still wants the same bright brief as Rozanne. Do not site this class under dense evergreen and then blame the cultivar. Afternoon shade in hot summers keeps bloom going; deep dark shade does not.

Bloody cranesbill (sanguineum). Low flowering mats for edges and sun. Max Frei is the usual compact named pick. Magenta cups on a tight mound. They take more drought once established than a woodland type. They are not a substitute for phaeum in deep shade. Give them an open edge, not a wet hosta bed.

Meadow cranesbill (pratense). Upright mid-border plants such as Midnight Reiter. Height and foliage matter as much as the flower. Confirm light on the profile. They are not a groundcover mat and not an alpine cushion. Stake only if a wet spring flops the stems; do not treat them as a carpet to shear like a sanguineum mat.

Bigroot and cantabrigiense. Scented-leaf carpets such as Bevan’s Variety and Biokovo. They take drier shade under deciduous shrubs better than Rozanne. Deadheading is easier than on wispy hybrids. They still want drain, not a winter puddle. They are not sun-baked rock plants. A light tidy after bloom is enough; they hold foliage.

Mourning widow and woodland. Phaeum, maculatum, sylvaticum. Samobor is the usual dark-leaf named pick. Cooler sites, earlier bloom, less of a summer marathon. A south wall at noon is the usual miss. They are not long-bloom sprawl in disguise. Keep the soil cooler and drained; do not copy a Rozanne watering calendar.

Alpine and cinereum. Compact rock-edge types. Ballerina wants sharp drainage and intimate scale. Wet clay and a packed border bury them. They are not a spreading cantabrigiense carpet. Grit, a raised lip, and winter wet that leaves the crown are the usual success conditions.

Light and habit on the tag beat a shared pink photo. If two labels disagree, trust the Latin and the site you can see. Care after you choose stays on How to Grow Hardy Geraniums.

Browse by class (53)

Browse all hardy geraniums by group. Groups follow habit and species cues. The light checks above still apply inside every group. Not Pelargonium. Open two or three plants in the matching group — not the whole catalog at once. Confirm spread and hardiness on the profile before you fill a bed.

Long-bloom hybrids (11)

Season-long color class (Rozanne, Orion, Brookside, Patricia, Johnson’s Blue, Ann Folkard, Dreamland) — rebloom and shear response matter more than a single spring flush.

Bloody cranesbill (sanguineum) (5)

Geranium sanguineum mats and compact forms (Max Frei, Elke, striatum, Tiny Monster) — low flowering carpets for edges and sun.

Meadow cranesbill (pratense) (6)

Upright Geranium pratense cultivars (Midnight Reiter, Mrs Kendall Clark, Boom Chocolatta, Plenum Violaceum) for mid-border height and foliage color.

Bigroot and cantabrigiense (5)

Groundcover Geranium macrorrhizum and × cantabrigiense (Bevan’s Variety, Czakor, Biokovo, Karmina) — scented leaf, dry-shade tolerant carpets.

Mourning widow and woodland (7)

Part-shade woodland types (phaeum Samobor / Lily Lovell, maculatum Espresso, sylvaticum Mayflower) — darker flowers and cooler sites than sun mats.

Alpine and cinereum (5)

Compact rock-edge types (cinereum Ballerina / Laurence Flatman / Purple Pillow, renardii, subcaulescens) — sharp drainage and intimate scale.

Other hardy Geranium in our library (14)

These Geranium entries do not yet match a stronger band cue (including many oxonianum and species rows) — open the profile before assuming long-bloom vs bloody vs woodland.