Purple Crane’s-bill, Geranium x magnificum, in our back garden.

June is one of the best months for Crane’s-bills (Geranium), such as Bloody Crane’s-bill, Geranium sanguineum, which I wrote about at the beginning of the year.

One of my favourites, for its mass of flowers and sheer intensity of colour, is Geranium x magnificum. My grandmother grew it in her garden on Anglesey and it was one of my Dad’s favourites, which I grew up with in our gardens in the West Midlands and Scotland. I still grow it here in Norwich, though the plants I have now came from my mother-in-law.

Purple Crane’s-bill is an apt name, for although the flowers are blue, they have a distinct purplish or red-blue hue.

Geranium x magnificum is a sterile hybrid, formed by a cross between two other Geraniums with blue flowers. The parents are Geranium platypetalum (Glandular Crane’s-bill, a native of Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan) and Geranium ibericum (Caucasian Crane’s-bill, from Western Asia, including Turkey and the Caucasus). Both parents are grown in gardens and occur as garden escapes in the British Isles, Geranium platypetalum in parts of Dunbartonshire and G. ibericum in scattered sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Geranium x magnificum itself is more widespread as a garden escape, and the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora describes it as a “long-persisting escape or throw-out on roadsides, railway banks and waste ground“. It was first recorded in the wild in 1932 in Middlesex.

My Geranium x magnificum isn’t a named variety (as far as I know) but several named cultivars exist, such as ‘Rosemoor‘ and ‘Blue Blood‘. Non-named varieties are also available online.

Geranium x magnificum is a hardy perennial (to below -20 Celsius), and forms clumps of deeply lobed hairy green leaves. It grows to about 70cm tall and I find it rarely needs support, unlike some other hardy perennials. It makes great ground cover and the leaves sometimes turn orange and red in autumn, though this might be dependant on growing conditions as this is not very noticeable in our garden.

Geranium x magnificum is an adaptable plant and will grow in sun or semi-shade in a variety of soil types – sand, clay, chalk or loam – and isn’t fussy about soil pH. It grows well in semi-shade on sandy loam in our current garden in Norwich, where rain is just an occasional fleeting visitor, and liked West Midlands clay, slightly acid soil in our Scottish garden and both high rainfall and a seaside location in my grandmother’s garden in Wales. It is easy to propagate by division, best done in autumn or spring. You can also divide plants just after flowering, provided you cut the foliage off and give the plants lots of water, though this is a bit brutal and the plants look rather dejected for a few weeks afterwards. The RHS website lists the plant’s foes as powdery mildew and viruses, vine weevil larvae, Geranium sawfly larvae, various capsid bugs and slugs and snails but I have never had problems with any of them. Indeed, in various snail-infested gardens I have found that all the species of Geranium I’ve grown have thrived and been immune to damage.

‘Magnificum’ is a very appropriate description, for this Geranium is indeed magnificent when in flower, and the flowers are popular with bumblebees. The only drawback is that the flowers come all at once and only last for two to three weeks in June and then are gone.

Other blue-flowered perennial cranesbills are available. I love our native Meadow Crane’s-bill, Geranium pratense, which is about to flower in our garden. It flowers for slightly longer than G. x magnificum and has a purer blue flower. It is susceptible to powdery and downy mildews in dry weather and is quite a leggy plant, so sometimes needs support. It also self-seeds, which is a good or bad thing, depending on your point of view. Bees love it and it is a great choice for a slightly wilder garden. There are numerous garden cultivars, with different coloured flowers and leaves. It likes similar conditions to G. x magnificum. It is quite easy to grow from seed.

For a tidier garden and a longer display of flowers, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (a.k.a. Geranium ‘Gerwat’) is hard to beat. It was first sold to the public in May 2000 and won the public vote at the Chelsea Plant of the Centenary Award. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is a lower, spreading plant than G. x magnificum, with white centres to its violet-blue flowers. It is a sterile hybrid between Geranium wallachium ‘Buxton’s Variety’ and Geranium himalayense, and was produced by Gomer and Rozanne Waterer, and introduced by Blooms of Bressingham [see note below]. Before I discovered Geranium ‘Rozanne’ I grew both parents in the Belvedere Centre garden in Norwich. They are lovely but flower for a relatively short time.

In contrast, Geranium ‘Rozanne’ flowers repeatedly from June through to October. It is very adaptable and hardy and likes similar conditions to G. x magnificum. It will die away in winter but when spring comes shoots will begin to appear and with its spreading habit, it makes very good ground cover. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is covered by Plant Breeders’ Rights, which mean you can’t propagate it for sale, but you can divide it up for your own use or give away plants to friends.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’ in our back garden.

If I could grow just one blue flowered Geranium it would probably be ‘Rozanne’, but I’m very glad I have Geranium x magnificum and Geranium pratense in the garden too.

Note: This piece of information came from the RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials, which I recommend very highly. The story is also online on the Rozanne and Friends website, although that refers to Donald and Rozanne Waterer rather than Gomer and Rozanne.