Geranium

A vigorous, semi-evergreen, clump- and colony-forming hardy geranium grown as one of the best groundcovers for dry shade under trees and shrubs. Its soft, deeply lobed, strongly aromatic leaves form a dense, weed-smothering carpet, many of them flushing red and bronze in autumn, and above the foliage rise loose clusters of magenta-pink (or white) flowers with prominent protruding stamens in late spring and early summer. It spreads steadily by thick surface rhizomes into a tough, low-maintenance, weed-proof mat that is easy to pull back and is not aggressively invasive. The aromatic foliage makes it markedly deer- and rabbit-resistant, and it is genuinely drought-tolerant once established. It is grown purely as an ornamental and is not a food plant.

A clump-forming hardy perennial geranium of European and temperate-Asian hay meadows, grasslands, and verges, grown for the saucers of pale violet-blue, dark-veined flowers it carries on tall, branching, hairy stems through the height of summer. Its deeply cut, lobed leaves form a broad basal clump up to about a metre across, and many of them flush warm red and bronze before they die back in autumn. It is one of the more upright, meadow-style hardy geraniums - taller and looser than the groundcovering kinds - and reads beautifully in a naturalistic border or a managed meadow, where it self-seeds and naturalises readily without being aggressively invasive. Extremely cold-hardy (to at least -4°F), it is a richly melliferous plant whose open flowers are an easy nectar and pollen source for bees and hoverflies. It is grown purely as an ornamental: it has no known edible use and no significant toxicity is recorded for it.

A native eastern North American clump-forming perennial with palmately-lobed foliage and clustered pink-to-purple five-petaled spring flowers. Among the most reliable native woodland perennials for cool-moist sites; tolerates a wide range of conditions and slowly naturalizes by self-seeding.