Geranium cinereum Purple Pillow at Digging Dog Nursery |

Geranium cinereum
‘Purple Pillow’
at Digging Dog

Cranesbill

We’re talking about hardy Geraniums, not the better-known, anything-but-subtle Pelargoniums. True Geraniums are sturdy yet refined, with five-petaled flowers borne on dainty stems close to the palmately-divided leaves.

Their spectrum of colors, from cool to electric, is rivaled only by their ability to create soft mounds and flowing carpets of lush foliage in ordinary garden soil. We plant a succession of varieties to always have some in bloom from spring to fall. Our selections are easily grown and will rebloom after flowering if lightly trimmed. Most die back in winter.

Geranium cinereum ‘Purple Pillow’

Topping a tidy and low growing bluish gray-green mound of deeply lobed, attractive foliage, the enticing cup-shaped flowers are distinctively colored in reddish plum hues accentuated by a close network of darker veins that converge to form a central eye. The bountiful blooms keep coming all summer long, and there’s an autumn encore when leaves take on shades of purple, red or orange. Its compact form is remarkably carefree, unappealing to deer and never invasive—just a few more reasons why this exceptional, recently introduced Geranium merits a place in a rock garden or in the frontlines of your border.

Blooms June–September.

Size: 6" high x 12" wide; hardy to zone 4.