You're already familiar with "Biokovo", so I'll skip that one. Although I do enjoy the scent of the foliage - reminiscent of Vernors, to my nose

Love G. magnificum. June bloomer here. I've had my clumps over 20 years, they're on their third house already :0p. I give them a severe haircut after blooming, and they quickly regrow to form neat mounds that never get out of hand (I'm not one for sprawl).

Here they are at my other house, not even in full bloom and look how nice they are:

Blooms close-up; you can see all the unopened buds, showing you just how floriferous they are:

Johnson Blue is a nice one too. Not the longest bloomer but great fall color...

Here on the right

Fall color

If you like pink, ‘pink vision’ is a nice floriferous one with a long bloom time..

Geranium philiostemon its one of my favorites, Can grow 2-4feet tall.

Have tried (and killed) many Geraniums cultivars over the years. Unfortunately I didn't pay as close attention as you do on their performance using most of them as fillers. Here are a few that I like:

1. Geranium himalayense 'Derrick Cook'

Attractive large white with a touch of pale lilac. Loose crawling habit.

2. Geranium phaeum 'Margaret Wilson'

Beautiful variegated foliage with dark bluish purple flower; my favourite. Seems to be a weak plant in my garden.

3. Geranium phaeum 'Samobor'

Good looking foliage with dark patches and maroon colour flower. Self-sow bad.

4. Geranium phaeum 'Springtime'

Similar to 'Samobor' with a little cream colour in the foliage.

5. Geranium pratense 'Dark Reiter'

The only reliable dark foliage geranium for me. Self-sow a little and the offsprings look very similar to parent.

6. Geranium pratense 'Double Jewel'

Good looking double flower, but it quit on me last year after a number of years.

7. Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Karmina'

Nice pink flowers and very useful as fillers everywhere sun or shade. Need some control when it is too happy.

8. Geranium x magnificum 'Rosemoor'

Reputed to be 'bloom longer and more prolific than the regular G. x magnificum'. Only have it one season.

9. Geranium x magnificum

Nice flowers and maintains relatively tidy foliage after blooming.

Hope this is useful info to you.

NHBabs,

Do you think you had hardiness or drainage issues with Rozanne?

Jolly Bee is the same by the way and is no longer an acceptable cultivar name if I'm not mistaken.

I have a quite a few planned for around the house. I feel good about the east exposure plantings but then they wrap to a more open area that may not have as good of snow cover due to winter winds.

For me this is the only one to plant in this color family unless you need something more compact.

Since it blooms for 5-6 months and it doesn't get old when you have purple foliage plants around it.

I too love ‘Rozanne’. It is one of my top favorite perennials for its all summer blooms.

I find it surprising that you can’t grow it Babs.

I have it in several beds now, all different conditions. So I do have to wonder if it is a vole issue for you?

Sorry babs , how did I miss you grew it and it wasn’t good for you ?! Sorry for missing that . How unhelpful of me

Hardy geraniums have been garden stalwarts since forever...and there is no shortage of varieties here in the UK. Some are far better than others though. Much as I value the early sylvaticums, they can be sparse...and I really don't much care for any of the bigroot geraniums with the exception of the lovely White Ness (think a seed raised variety can be found). Unlike all the paler macrorrhizum, the anthers are also pure white plus the foliage is a lovely fresh green. My favourite shade variety...although I am fond of phaeum 'Album' too. The tiny pyrenaicums are a terrible seeder...but a white seed raised one has been a welcome, if generous volunteer. Amongst the sun lovers, there is a fabulously longiblooming cinereum called 'Carole'...but am also fond of the fine petalled oxonianums - Thurston's variety, Brecknock Brownie and Southcombe Star. I do like psilostemon burt the sprawling habit and yellowish foliage are deal-breakers for me...so have gone with Patricia and Salome - both of which have those dark eyes (as have a couple of the smaller alpine) while Red Admiral has the largest foliage of any apart from the tender Canary Islanders.

In the wallichianum stable, Crystal lake has been awful - tiny flowers and mean flowering...while Lavender Ice is gorgeous. There are a few seed raised types, including good old Buxton Blue (somewhere in the lineage of Rozanne).

Soz this is a bit rushed - will have time to post a more considered reply when it is not gone midnight.

Every time (and I think maybe 3 times) I've tried Rozanne, it flops (ie dies on me immediately) all I can think is it's extremely sensitive about drainage. Sanguineum is pretty much bulletproof and is probably the longest blooming geranium I've ever head (of course it's a ground cover). I love and have had good luck with any pratense or macrorrhizum type. Pratense types tend to long bloomers also for me. Geranium maculatum (native to my area and east) is also a worthy contender and tends to have eye catching fall foliage.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. It will give me plenty to start researching, and I welcome any other comments.

I think that my deep pink plant is Karmina.

”Jolly Bee is the same by the way and is no longer an acceptable cultivar name if I'm not mistaken.” While I am aware that the courts ruled they are too close genetically to be sold separately and Rozanne won, in my garden they don’t behave the same, so there is some difference. I quite literally planted a Jolly Bee in a spot to replace a dead Rozanne, and JB is still there many years later. I still have all the Jolly Bees I planted after a bunch of years and not one of the Rozannes survived past the first winter, so there is something in my garden that Rozanne doesn’t like. It could well be voles. My memory is that someone in zone 3 is successfully growing Rozanne, so it likely isn’t hardiness issues, and I have good drainage in almost all garden beds, so I am at a bit of a loss.

I was looking at Derrick Cook. Anyone have input into season of bloom?

The fall color on Johnson Blue is terrific, GH.

How do folks use the taller Geraniums? Except for my floppy Dark Reiter, all mine are a foot or less tall and are largely used between taller plants, and I haven’t like the growth pattern of Dark Reiter.

It’s interesting to me that sanguineum is long blooming for some folks since it only blooms for a very few weeks here. Perhaps it is the particular plant I have.

Magnificum looks stunning.

Babs, it may be the different climate, though usually it's the other way around..you northerners get a longer bloom cycle than us hotlanders.

I have a magnificum plant (which I didn't mention as it hasn't bloomed yet), that I accquired just before frost in 2017. It vegetated nicely last year and I expect it to show me something this year. So, I can't say anything nice about it yet :)

When I had my old house and garden I grew more hardy geraniums than I could count! That was back in the Heronswood Nursery glory days and most came from there - Dan had a huge selection!! I've forgotten most, although the oxonianums stand out in my memory. And the wildy self-seeding phaeums!

These days I am much more picky due to real estate handicaps. Rozanne is a must have for me, even though she spreads all over. In the same vein, I love Ann Folkard - the contrast of the vibrant magenta-purple flowers against the chartreuse foliage is stunning! But my favorite is G. cinereum 'Laurence Flatman' - low growing, mostly evergreen in my climate and a very long bloom season - May through into late September. Come to think, I like most cinereums....also the sanguineums.

I forgot I have "Samobor". Probably because I bought so much in a haze at this new place, plus she didn't really impress me her first season last year. I think I have one or two small ones left somewhere out there - I'll have to find a better spot for them in the new bed, hopefully they'll start showing me they're worthy of keeping.

G. maculatum is on my list for this spring, can get them at a local native plant nursery.

Forgot to mention G. magnificum turns a beautiful red in the fall.

My Derrick Cook appeared to bloom some time between early June to past mid-june; overlapped with but go past magnificum in my garden. Another variety to consider is Geranium 'Sabani Blue'. These two were on my hit list but cannot be sourced in Canada: Geranium pratense 'Summer Skies' and Geranium 'Purple Pillow'.

I have a number of these but my favorite is Orion. It is probably one of those plants you love or hate - it’s very big and sprawls. Mine grows up through a native holly with flowers showing up three to four feet high among the holly branches. Blooms earlier that Rozanne and blooms for a long time. Orion blooms starting with the peonies and keeps blooming through Echinacea and can bloom again in fall. Big blue flowers, the foliage isn’t particularly interesting.

Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei' makes for a beautiful compact mounded specimen that doesn't fall apart in the middle and the thing blooms pretty much all summer. I super like the traits of this tidy plant as it can be used to very good effect at the front border.

Yes, I totally agree on 'Max Frei'! It has no bad qualities at all. It gives so much I can easily forgive it for only getting a tad of fall foliage colour.

G. dalmaticum is another favorite, mostly for it's very small tidy foliage that turns screaming red & yellow in fall. The pale pink flowers are attractive. It is quite tolerant of dry conditions.

I wish I had a better pic of 'Elke'. It is under a foot tall and never flops. The flower colour is a beautiful pink.

G. 'Splish Splash' may not be to every ones liking but I think it is quite lovely. It is a taller Geranium that never flops. The bloom time is only a few weeks but the foliage is a nice clump after bloom.

'Patricia' is a wonderful tall magenta. No appreciable fall colour but a very long bloom time.

It is held up here with tallish plants but I had another in full sun that really did not flop.

I'll be a third yes on Max Frei

this is what it looked like in its first year for me

And Orion with peony (I think it is coral sunset?) in the first week of June already going strong

There are some REALLY lovely blooms being show here...thanks everyone for their great botanical geranium pictures.

Perren.all, your photos are gorgeous, those swaths of beautiful complementary colors are so relaxing to the eye! The photo and description of G. dalmaticum really are to my liking! I'm also a fan of 'Elke', though I need to move her and start treating her better! Good to hear that both you and maisie are admirers of 'Max Frei', it really is one well behaved plant!

Geranium sanguineum var. striatum is another superb plant, blooms are pastel pink with beautiful darker veining, I was struck upon opening of its first bloom, plant habit is nice and tidy as well.

Photo from Hirt's Garden website

Campanula, thank you for such an amazing list! I think my geranium collection is pretty basic, so I can't add anything to NHBabs wish, but I'm going to go through your varieties for ideas.

I very much wanted the lovely Geranium phaeum this year, particularly 'Samobor,' but their trend has come and gone here now. The only available vendors charged more than I was willing to spend when you added plant + shipping charges. Hoping for some phaeum in my future.

Gosh, this is wonderful! Thanks so much to everyone who has added photos and comments on the Geraniums that you grow. What a great resource this is.

This thread is really adding to my wish list!

Thank you FrozeBudd! That s var. s is such a great colour.

deannatoby such a pity you were unable to get a G. phaeum. I particularly like Samobor for the foliage and flowers. I deadhead to avoid too many seedlings but a few are always welcome. They are such great plants for partial shade.

@NHBabs: I can confirm that Rozanne is hardy to 3a.

Duh! I can't believe I forgot to mention this evaluation of hardy geraniums by the Chicago Botanical Garden! I always enjoy reading their evaluations.

I figured out that the blue flowering Geranium I have is ‘Philippe Vapelle’, a hybrid between G. renardii and platypetalum. It came from a small local nursery labeled as Johnson’s Blue which it clearly is not since the leaves are rounder and quite fuzzy.

https://www.greatplantpicks.org/plantlists/view/1754

O very nice too, Babs. I like renardii and it's hybrids a lot. Always good in my sunny allotment when my other sun loving choices are a bit less reliable (stand up, Mavis and Russell). Which reminds me, I forgot to mention the only double I grow...and imo, the only worthwhile pratense - plenum caeruleum. There is a named strain - Summer Skies which I have not yet tried but it is on my list.

Other pratense types are a bit weedy and prone to flopping and mildew.

Bevan's Variety, I'm pretty sure. I like how they mound instead of sprawl. They repeat-bloomed like crazy the first year, but never again. I get one good (as you can see), long-lasting bloom and that's it.

I don't have a pic, but "Tiny Monster" is a beautiful and very LONG blooming geranium.