Cranesbill 'Brookside'
Geranium 'Brookside' ·
Clear, deep blue, bowl-shaped flowers with a small white eye, held above finely cut leaves from late spring into summer.
- Size
- 20 in tall, 2½ ft wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late May to early August
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around cranesbill 'Brookside'
The planner designed this bed around cranesbill 'Brookside' 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 'Brookside' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Cranesbill 'Brookside' × 3, blue
- 2 Winter heath × 5, pink
- 3 October daphne × 8, pink
- 4 Wild quinine × 3, white
- 5 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 6 Blue oat grass × 1, tan
- 7 Schubert's allium × 3, pink
- 8 Hyacinth × 12, purple
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.
- The only blue.
Why here
- In the middle. At 20 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.
- A step in the back row. Next to brown-eyed Susan (4 ft) and blue oat grass (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 11 weeks. From late May to early August.
- Part of the bed's peak. With wild quinine, blue oat grass and Schubert's allium in late June: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 6 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The scheme leans cool (blue, pink and purple) and uses yellow for warmth, with white and tan to calm things between them. Pink runs through the planting: 3 of the 8 kinds grown for their flowers have it.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 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 'Brookside' goes in a border
At 20 in it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium short (18 to 24 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
A better plant than 'Johnson's Blue': stronger colour, a longer season and good red autumn leaves. Cut it to the ground when it sprawls in July and it returns fresh within three weeks.
- Blue for early summer
- Underplanting roses
- Weaving through the middle of a border
What to plant with cranesbill 'Brookside'
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 10 weeks; tall enough (4 ft) to stand behind it.
- Lady's mantle: in flower together for six weeks, from late May.
- Peony: in flower together for four weeks, from late May; tall enough (3 ft) to stand behind it.
Questions about cranesbill 'Brookside'
Does cranesbill 'Brookside' need sun or shade?
Cranesbill 'Brookside' 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 'Brookside' grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °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 'Brookside' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to early August. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 4 | Early June to mid August |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late May to early August |
| Zone 6 | Late May to early August |
| Zone 7 | Mid May to early August |
| Zone 8 | Early May to early August |
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 'Brookside' 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 (75 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 20 in (50 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many cranesbill 'Brookside' 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 three in one group.
Is there a native plant like cranesbill 'Brookside'?
Cranesbill 'Brookside' is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Aromatic aster 'October Skies': the same job in a bed, the same size and the same colour; flowers mid September to late October, wants dry soil.
- Tickseed 'Sunray': the same job in a bed and the same flowering time; 8 in narrower, yellow, not blue.
- Coneflower 'Kim's Knee High': the same job in a bed; 8 in narrower, flowers early July to late August.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after cranesbill 'Brookside'?
Cranesbill 'Brookside' is over by early August. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Japanese anemone: from mid August to early October, 3 ft tall.
- Hosta 'Guacamole': from early August to late August, 24 in tall.
What does cranesbill 'Brookside' look like in winter?
Cranesbill 'Brookside' 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 'Azure Rush' Geranium 'Azure Rush'
- Cranesbill 'Ballerina' Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina'
- Cranesbill 'Biokovo' Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo'
- 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
- 20 in (50 cm) tall, 2½ ft (75 cm) wide
- Plant
- 24 in (60 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium short (18 to 24 in)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late May to early August; open bowls; blue
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 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.