Cranesbill 'Ballerina'
Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina' ·
A small, grey-green cushion with lilac-pink flowers heavily netted in purple around a dark eye, for most of the summer.
- Size
- 6 in tall, 12 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late May to early September
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Edging
A bed built around cranesbill 'Ballerina'
The planner designed this bed around cranesbill 'Ballerina' 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 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why cranesbill 'Ballerina' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Cranesbill 'Ballerina' × 8, pink
- 2 Yellow ice plant × 8, yellow
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 8, tan
- 4 Stiff goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Wild lupine × 3, blue
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Star of Persia × 4, purple
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are daisies, spires, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only pink.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 6 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 23% of the edge.
- 8 plants in 2 runs (5 and 3). Runs of different lengths make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
- Fine leaf against bold. Stiff goldenrod is beside it: the strongest contrast of leaf there is.
Why now
- In flower for 16 weeks. From late May to early September.
- Fills a gap. For six of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 7 groups (86%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by little bluestem 'The Blues' and stiff goldenrod, the tallest plants on the plan. Silver sage, yellow ice plant and cranesbill 'Ballerina' finish the front edge.
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 cranesbill 'Ballerina' goes in a border
At 6 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is ground-hugging (up to 6 in).
Its job: edging. A low, neat plant used in short runs of three or five along the front to finish the edge (or, in a formal bed, in one even row).
An alpine geranium for the rock garden, a trough or the front edge of a gravel bed. It needs sharp drainage and full light, and dislikes winter wet.
- Rock gardens and troughs
- Edging in gravel
- Small-scale planting
What to plant with cranesbill 'Ballerina'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Sea thrift: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; happy in the same dry soil.
- Creeping thyme: in flower together for six weeks, from early June; low enough (3 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; tall enough (10 in) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about cranesbill 'Ballerina'
Does cranesbill 'Ballerina' need sun or shade?
Cranesbill 'Ballerina' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does cranesbill 'Ballerina' 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 'Ballerina' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to early September. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 5 | Late May to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 6 | Mid May to early September |
| Zone 7 | Early May to early September |
| Zone 8 | Early May to early September |
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 'Ballerina' be planted?
10 in (25 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 12 in (30 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 6 in (15 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many cranesbill 'Ballerina' plants do I need?
At 10 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 17 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 13 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 55 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as runs of three or five along the front (or one even row, in a formal bed).
In the bed above, the planner used eight in two groups.
What flowers after cranesbill 'Ballerina'?
Cranesbill 'Ballerina' is over by early September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- Autumn crocus: from mid September to mid October, 5 in tall.
- Meadow saffron: from mid September to mid October, 6 in tall.
What does cranesbill 'Ballerina' look like in winter?
Cranesbill 'Ballerina' 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 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 'Azure Rush' Geranium 'Azure Rush'
- 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
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 6 in (15 cm) tall, 12 in (30 cm) wide
- Plant
- 10 in (25 cm) apart
- Height class
- Ground-hugging (up to 6 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to early September; open bowls; pink, purple
- Leaves
- Fine texture, semi-evergreen; grey-green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- 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.