Garden Forwardgroundcover
Big root geranium
Geranium macrorrhizum
Growing guidance
Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.
Current-climate suitability
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Future-climate resilience
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Sun
Sun or shade
Soil moisture
free-draining, average
Heat tolerance
Up to about 40°C
Cold tolerance
Down to about -28°C
Waterlogging tolerance
2/5
Drought tolerance
4/5
Mature size
0.3–0.4 m tall, 0.6 m spread
Seasonal interest
Early summer · Magenta pink
Maintenance
low
Wildlife supported
General wildlife value 4/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)
Known risks or warnings
Spreads steadily; lift and divide every few years.
Toxicity: none
Verified botanical record
- Accepted scientific name
- Geranium macrorrhizum L.
- Family
- Geraniaceae (Geraniales)
- Rank and status
- species · accepted
- GBIF record
- Taxon 2891079
Recorded as introduced in: Belgium, British Columbia, Brussels-Capital Region, Chile Central, Croatia, Czech Republic, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, Flemish Region, France and 15 further regions
Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.
Geranium macrorrhizum is a species of hardy flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the genus Geranium, family Geraniaceae. It is native to the south-eastern Alps and the Balkans. Its common names include bigroot geranium, Bulgarian geranium, and rock crane's-bill. It has five-lobed (palmate) leaves that are aromatic when crushed, with pale pink flowers in summer. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions, where it is used as a flowering groundcover, with named cultivars selected for flower colors from white through pink to magenta. The cultivars 'Ingwersen's Variety' (pale pink) and 'White-ness' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Description from Wikipedia — Geranium macrorrhizum (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.
Native status and geographic context
- United Kingdom: climate-suitable
- United States: climate-suitable
- Australia: climate-suitable
Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.
Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.