Bigroot cranesbill
Geranium macrorrhizum ·
Aromatic, soft, lobed leaves form a dense, weed-proof carpet that colours red in autumn, with pink or white flowers in late spring. It tolerates dry shade.
- Size
- 16 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to shade
- Flowers
- Mid May to late June
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around bigroot cranesbill
The planner designed this bed around bigroot cranesbill when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 341 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why bigroot cranesbill stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Bigroot cranesbill × 8, pink
- 2 Carpathian bellflower × 3, blue
- 3 October daphne × 8, pink
- 4 Purple milkweed × 3, purple
- 5 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 6 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 7 Grecian windflower × 12, white
- 8 Grape hyacinth × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are bells, dense clusters, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- Under the taller plants. It runs back between them as living mulch: there its job is to cover the soil, not to be looked at.
- 8 plants in 2 groups (5 and 3). Seen again further along, the same plant ties the bed together.
Why now
- In flower for six weeks. From mid May to late June.
- Fills a gap. For three of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 6 groups (83%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by purple milkweed and brown-eyed Susan, the tallest plants on the plan. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 47% of the visual weight and the right half 53%.
The planner's own design check: 13 Excellent, 4 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where bigroot cranesbill goes in a border
At 16 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is short (12 to 18 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
The best cranesbill for covering difficult ground: it smothers weeds, shrugs off drought and root competition, and deer avoid its scented leaves. Use it in sweeps under shrubs.
- Weed-proof groundcover for dry shade
- Under shrubs and trees
- Autumn foliage colour
What to plant with bigroot cranesbill
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Lenten rose: flowers first, late March to early May, so the spot is never empty; bold leaves against its medium ones.
- Christmas fern: its dark green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Red barrenwort.
Questions about bigroot cranesbill
Does bigroot cranesbill need sun or shade?
Bigroot cranesbill grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun), part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning) and shade (less than 2 hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does bigroot cranesbill grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does bigroot cranesbill flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid May to late June. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Late May to late June |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late May to late June |
| Zone 5 | Mid May to late June |
| Zone 6 | Early May to late June |
| Zone 7 | Early May to mid June |
| Zone 8 | Late April to mid June |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should bigroot cranesbill be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 16 in (40 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many bigroot cranesbill plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used eight in two groups.
What flowers after bigroot cranesbill?
Bigroot cranesbill is over by late June. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Astilbe: from late June to mid July, 24 in tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall.
- Butterfly weed: from late June to early August, 24 in tall.
What does bigroot cranesbill look like in winter?
Bigroot cranesbill holds some of its leaves into winter, more in a mild year or a sheltered spot, and they look tired by March. Cut the old ones off as new growth starts.
More Geranium
- Armenian cranesbill Geranium psilostemon
- Bigroot cranesbill 'Bevan's Variety' Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety'
- Bigroot cranesbill 'Ingwersen's Variety' Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwersen's Variety'
- Bloody cranesbill Geranium sanguineum
- Bloody cranesbill 'Max Frei' Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei'
- Cranesbill 'Ann Folkard' Geranium 'Ann Folkard'
- Cranesbill 'Azure Rush' Geranium 'Azure Rush'
- Cranesbill 'Ballerina' Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina'
- Cranesbill 'Biokovo' Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo'
- Cranesbill 'Brookside' Geranium 'Brookside'
- Cranesbill 'Johnson's Blue' Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'
- Cranesbill 'Karmina' Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Karmina'
- Cranesbill 'Orion' Geranium 'Orion'
- Cranesbill 'Rozanne' Geranium 'Gerwat' (Rozanne)
- Cranesbill 'Wargrave Pink' Geranium x oxonianum 'Wargrave Pink'
- Dalmatian cranesbill Geranium dalmaticum
- Himalayan cranesbill Geranium himalayense
- Meadow cranesbill Geranium pratense
- Meadow cranesbill 'Midnight Reiter' Geranium pratense 'Midnight Reiter'
- Mourning widow Geranium phaeum
- Mourning widow 'Samobor' Geranium phaeum 'Samobor'
- Renard's cranesbill Geranium renardii
- Showy cranesbill Geranium x magnificum
- Striped bloody cranesbill Geranium sanguineum var. striatum
- Wild geranium Geranium maculatum
- Wild geranium 'Espresso' Geranium maculatum 'Espresso'
In these guides
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 16 in (40 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Mid May to late June; open bowls; pink, white
- Leaves
- Medium texture, semi-evergreen; green
- Shape
- Mounding, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade, shade
- Soil
- Average, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Checked against VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.