There is a wonderful website for a hardy geranium grower in CA. It is called geranacae. ( I am sure that I misspelled it, but it should come up on Google anyway) She sells over a hundred different varieties. They are not huge, but are very very well rooted and grown outdoors so take transplanting into your garden quite well.

They are not cheap, but the value is good. I priced them out once, with shipping, and they came to about 7.50 each. For my money a smaller plant at that price is better than the huge ones for 12-15 bucks that suffer from shock when transplanted and which have gone through a wet dry wet dry cycle at a large nursery.

The owner answers the phone and answers questions knowledgably. What a pleasure!

idabean

mxk3,
G. magnificum is on my list...just did not make it to the forum's list. Thank you!
Patty

I've grown G. sanguineum var. striatum - lovely little plant. I've read that it is the same thing as G. Lancastriense, which I've also grown. It's tidy with delicate pink-striped flowers and in my garden the foliage stays tidy all season and has good fall color. Each time I've grown it (3x) a shrub has shaded it out before I got it moved. So I would definitely recommend this plant, but it needs to be at the front of the border or in a rock garden so that it doesn't get overwhelmed by taller neighbors.

Here is a link to comments on hardy geraniums pt 1.

I preferred brookside and pratense, course I like blue (or bluish) flowers. Sanguineum are strong ground covers...I haven't grown any of the others.

Also commented on your Part 1....

phaeum 'Springtime' really does have some unique foliage patterns. The white that is vivid in the new spring foliage is quite unique. The seedlings produce interesting patterns too. Overall I don't care for the phaeum Geraniums though as far as looks are concerned.

Ann Folkard has been a dud here, but from what I have learned from other GW members she responds better to warmer climates (so might be a winner for you!). We have 'Dragon Heart' at the nursery and it looked a bit weak until the summer heat put some pep it its step...

Take this with a grain of salt since it was started from seed and not a division....'Brookside' I have love/hate relationship with. I adore the plant combo I have with it, Nora Leigh Phlox, and Gentle Hermione Rose. It is such an uggo afterwards though. I regret putting it so close to the front of the border where that foliage is front and center, but hate to get rid of it/move it and miss out on this....

-Patty, I could probably get some renardii seed to you this summer if you are interested (and keep reminding me! LOL).

CMK

G. phaeum 'Samobor' is very floriferous, but I would grow it for the foliage alone. It will reseed if given a chance.

I have grown 'Brookside' for years and it flowers most of the season. Really good fall color on the foliage.

'Rozanne' is outstanding. It blooms non-stop here from late May or early June and will continue even after snow has fallen.

G. s. 'Elke' has performed really well. The flowers are a bright clear pink that is most attractive and it blooms almost continuously here.

G. macrorrhizum is a workhorse. I have not grown 'Album' but cannot imagine it not being a strong grower. Save this one for a difficult spot if you have one.

I have grown 'Ann Folkard' and loved the screaming magenta flowers but it regrettably is not hardy here.

There are 2 not on your list that I would recommend. G. c. 'Ballerina' is a very compact little blooming machine. It needs a bit of grit in the soil and excellent drainage.

G. s. 'Max Frei' blooms nearly all season and is compact as well. The flowers are a toned down magenta and the foliage deep green.

Here's the link to the hardy geranium nursery in San Marin county, California, that mrtulin mentions above. Webpage says that it's in z9b - so interesting to me as I had thought that hardy geraniums only grew in cool climates! Does anyone here in 8b & warmer grow them successfully? Which ones? Hey, Christin, how ya be?

Geraniaceae nursery

http://geraniaceae.com/cgi-bin/welcome.py

Hey there River! So very nice to see you posting on the new GW.

It is kind of odd. When you look on the zones of 'hardy' geraniums you see many have such an amazing range of hardiness. Until a couple years ago I had no idea now many were native to such warm climates, like the astounding Madeira Geranium (G. maderense) and the South African G. magniflorum! Such a broad and varying genus!

CMK

Thanks, Christin, I'll check 'em out! See you!

..I love that photo with the rose above there...gorgeous...

..of those listed above......most people seem to have Rozanne these days...I find that for the first year it's fine, a compact plant, then it puts down a tap root and takes off, developing into a large sprawling plant...

...'Russell Prichard'. is a touchy feely plant... I've grown loads and sometimes they just wither away but I have one left struggling along...when it's happy it adds a nice splash of colour...

..'Mavis Simpson' dies back to its crown for winter, but in summer it soon develops into another wide sprawling plant...as here....I do like it though...

...'Ann Folkard' I grew in shade as its bright foliage shows up well...again it climbs and sprawls...

..I no longer grow 'Brookside' as it seems to have been superseded with 'Orion' here...which I now have...but perhaps the flowers are a bit larger otherwise can't tell much difference...'Orion' is supposed to flower for longer...can't say I've noticed...

...'Elke' I don't have but this is thought to be one of the best there is right now... I'd like to get this one at some point...

..the others I don't know..... but I'll post something on your other thread too... happy Geranium hunting...

I used to have a couple of 'Brookside' - I loved the color, the profusion of the flowers, and the nice fall color of the neat mound of foliage that grew back if you cut it down hard after blooming. BUT it seeded like mad! - I'm still weeding out seedlings years after I finally dug out the original plants. To manage the profusion of flowering stems and keep them from smothering everything nearby, I used to put a tomato cage over the basal mound and pull the flowering stems, as they grew, up through the cage to create a sort of fountain effect! A few years ago I decided that, between the seeding and needing to contain the sprawling, that it was time for them to go... Part of the problem was that they were located in the interior of the big front bed so access for controlling the sprawl and deadheading was not easy. If you plant this one, my advice would be to plant it somewhere where access to it for maintenance purposes would be easy.

Thank you Woodoak and others. So greatly appreciated. I have various places in which to put these geraniums in. I have some semi-formal beds, but looking at quite few places in the woodlands with high dapple shade as well as sun with afternoon shade to keep them from getting torched if I can help it. There are places where I won't be too concerned if the patch spread.
My other gardening plants, etc, I do the same with and walk the gardens/yard to check out areas before an order goes in. Of course, Mother Nature does what she wants when she wants, but there is still plenty to enjoy as I stroll.
Enjoying the comments.

Patty

I have a love-hate thing with hardy geraniums - have been through loads of them, having faithfully followed Marjery Fish's dictum 'when in doubt, plant a geranium'. The fact that I only have around a quaerter of them probably speaks more of my negligent enthusiasm rather than fails in the geranium dept. but it has to be said, I did eventually get a bit bored with them (and discovered geums, the next big fad).
Anyway, some of my outstanding types. Like you, Marloreana, I also love the riversleanum Russell Pritchard and Mavis Simpson....but it is a gamble whether they return, year on year. I do have White Ness, which is nothing like as vigorous as its less pure relations...a lack of vigour which also afflicts the phaeum, 'album' - a bit of a plus to be honest given its seeding capacity. Most of the ptratensis are mildewy in my sandy soil, and fleeting. Out of the new wallichianum types, I have a couple (Azure something) which is more mannerly than Rozanne....and I must agree with Marloreana (again) that Patricia is a much better plant than the plain psilostemon species (have a fondness for Salome too although it was a bit mean with flowering.
Red Admiral - one of the Orkney geraniums, has been floriferous and reliable - huge foliage, vivid, long blooming flowers...but Crystal lake, one of the Orkney bred wallichianums, was a pitiful thing - miles of foliage and tiny pallid blooms (Isphahan warned me!)
I love the renardii foliage (one which does well for me) and I also grow a couple of the S,African G.incana/G.robustus types. Ramblin Robin and Silver Cloak bloom all season with filigree glaucous foliage...and I had a craze for the canary island sp. g.maderense, g.canariense and g.palmatum - might grow a white g.maderense from seed.
I am not keen on either the weedy oxonianum, endressii or sanguneum but have a lovely tiny alpine 'Carole' and also like the equally tiny Laurence Flatman.



Many are easy from seed - g.erianthemum, g.platypetalum, g.soboliferum and g.wallichianum 'Syabru' all come to mind...and another humble but charming white (for a wild garden) is the white g.pyrenaicum 'Snowflake (I think)..G.sylvaticum 'Amy Doncaster' is also easy from seed...but, like many of the early ones, fairly fleeting in bloom.
Not terribly keen on the dark leaved varieties and have not grown many (maculatum, Midnight Rieter).

I have some no ID white, purple and pink ones, the pinks being the most floriferous. Or, if I ever knew the names, I didn't commit them to memory...Some of them may need to be moved into a sunnier location for them to thrive--we shall see. They've been behind shrubs that grew taller and are sort of choked them out.

For the most part I love them, except Biokovo I think it was.(?) It had the pungent cranesbill foliage that I truly didn't care for--yanked it long ago.

I have Ann Folkard. She has a bit of chartreuse in her foliage and I love that dark eye. She's barely spread in years and years--again, that may be because she's too shaded. I have a lot to work to do relocating plants!

I'm always on the look our for hardy geraniums but seldom see them for sale in person.

Campanula. Biokovo does have a strong scent....very much like pine. I rather like it, but I can see where it might be offensive if located too close to the house. I love it for its form. The bloom period isn't very long, but the fact that it is evergreen makes up for that.

patty...not sure if you are close to Ashville but this nursery is great for Geraniums http://www.sandymushherbs.com/