Cranesbill 'Azure Rush'
Geranium 'Azure Rush' ·
Large, pale lavender-blue flowers with a white centre, from June until frost, on a mound more compact than its parent 'Rozanne'.
- Size
- 16 in tall, 2½ ft wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Early June to mid October
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around cranesbill 'Azure Rush'
The planner designed this bed around cranesbill 'Azure Rush' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why cranesbill 'Azure Rush' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Cranesbill 'Azure Rush' × 1, blue
- 2 Winter heath × 12, pink
- 3 Sea thrift × 8, white
- 4 Purple milkweed × 3, purple
- 5 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 6 Blue oat grass × 1, tan
- 7 Hyacinth × 12, blue
- 8 Schubert's allium × 3, pink
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are bells, globes, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
Why here
- In the middle. At 16 in it is the step between winter heath (10 in) in front and brown-eyed Susan (4 ft) behind: each is seen over the one before.
- One plant. Three or more is usual for a plant of this kind, and reads better.
Why now
- In flower for 20 weeks. From early June to mid October.
- Closes the season. For its last two weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The longest in flower is cranesbill 'Azure Rush': 20 weeks, from early June to mid October. Cool colours (blue, pink and purple) with yellow as the warm note, and white and tan to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 4 Good, 2 Satisfactory. 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 cranesbill 'Azure Rush' 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: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
It has the five-month season of 'Rozanne' in a paler colour and a tidier plant, which suits a small bed or a pot. It needs no deadheading.
- Months of flower at the front
- Containers
- Underplanting roses
What to plant with cranesbill 'Azure Rush'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- English rose: blue against orange, opposite each other on the colour wheel, if you choose those colours, in flower together for 18 weeks; tall enough (4 ft) to stand behind it.
- Lady's mantle: in flower together for five weeks, from early June.
- Coral bells: its burgundy leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
Questions about cranesbill 'Azure Rush'
Does cranesbill 'Azure Rush' need sun or shade?
Cranesbill 'Azure Rush' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does cranesbill 'Azure Rush' grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 8. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °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 cranesbill 'Azure Rush' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers early June to mid October. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 5 | Early June to mid October |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Early June to mid October |
| Zone 7 | Late May to mid October |
| Zone 8 | Late May to mid October |
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 cranesbill 'Azure Rush' be planted?
24 in (60 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 2½ ft (70 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 cranesbill 'Azure Rush' plants do I need?
At 24 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 3 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 6 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 10 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
What flowers after cranesbill 'Azure Rush'?
Cranesbill 'Azure Rush' is over by mid October. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Bodnant viburnum 'Dawn': from early November to late December, 10 ft tall.
- Common witch hazel: from mid October to late November, 15 ft tall.
What does cranesbill 'Azure Rush' look like in winter?
Cranesbill 'Azure Rush' dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Geranium
- Armenian cranesbill Geranium psilostemon
- Bigroot cranesbill Geranium macrorrhizum
- 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 '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
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 16 in (40 cm) tall, 2½ ft (70 cm) wide
- Plant
- 24 in (60 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Early June to mid October; open bowls; blue, lavender
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. 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.