I have not grown this but I have grown a few pratense hybrids...none of which bloom much later than midsummer and another later bloom cycle is very hit and miss affair. Colour me sceptical but I have heard 'prolonged bloom' cycles and 'continuous blooming', trumpeted endlessly. by marketers (Totally Tangerine geum, looking at you). As a rule, they are tall, graceful geraniums which play well with many other perennials

Looks like it. Hasn't been around long enough to have established much of a track record but should stay quite upright. It does NOT bloom all summer, however. A couple of weeks in early summer and that's it, although cutting back after initial bloom cycle could encourage a later rebloom.

Thanks for the information, rosaprimula & gardengal! They are very striking plants with their size, foliage color, and upright stature; my hope was for a longer bloom time, but they still might find a way into my garden.

Some hardy geraniums have very worthy foliage...g.maderense for example (which is just as well because, being monocarpic, it dies after blooming). I have Mrs Kendall Clarke which has similar pale lilac/blue flowers to the one in the photograph. It has a wonderful month of bloom (looks luminous at twilight) after which, the jagged fresh foliage remains an asset in the garden.

I have one Boom Chocolatta planted last year & it just bloomed. Your photo looks spot- on for what mine looks like. The flowers were notably upright. I will cut stems back now & see what happens.

Because of its form, and pretty blue, but probably not a long- bloomer, I’ve been thinking of how to use more in the gardens. It seems to work really well to “ pop up” from within or behind lower foliage, maybe truly low or a slower grower or later bloomer. Or just where id like that color contrasted with another flower, even if just a couple of weeks. I have it behind Moonbeam coreopsis now and that was lovely.

I will watch the foliage , and if that’s nice all summer ( or longer), I could see a larger planting where a nice ground covering is helpful, & could have a pot of annuals or something within it.

Thanks, marmiegard! I was thinking the same thing - maybe using it as a backdrop for contrasting foliage or flowers. These plants were large, easily 2.5ft tall and wide.

I’d love to see photos of Moonbeam & Boom Chocolatta together, if you happen to have any…that sounds like such a pretty pairing!

I can't understand why Geranium phaeum isn't more popular in the states?

Dusky Cranes-bill, Mourning Widow, Black Widow

That’s cool.

I had (past tense!) G. phaeum, and I loved it for a year or two. After that time, it popped up everywhere, often smack in the middle of clumps of other plants, so I got rid of it. It is beautiful though.

I grew the cultivar Samobor for a number of years in a previous garden (one of many species during my 'geranium phase'....:-)) A great selection for a shady location but the thing self seeded far too prolifically and that's just not my style. I like deciding where my plants belong!

Yep, I already have g.sanguineum, g.pyrenaicum, g.pratense and g.nodosum...no room for another seedy geranium...and phaeum doesn't really show very well in my gardens, tbh...although I don't mind phaeum album so much.

I have G. Phaeum 'Raven' new this year and really like it. The very dark purple/black flowers and height pair beautifully with the more quotidian, mounding Rozanne. Will see how it performs.

As for popularity in the states, I think cranesbill in general flies a bit under the radar aside from a few ubiquitous varieties.

I like dark coloured flowers in full sun...in shade, they tend to become invisible, so I tend to look for the whites, creams, lilacs in my (few) shady areas..

Now in my third (unwanted) iteration, from campanula, rosaprimula and now, bloody suzyjackson...and I can't seem to edit as Houzz demands I sign in before doing so, yet won't allow me back under previous names.

FFS.

It used to be so simple,back when we all just had ONE device and phones which you used to chat into.

HU-918119203, I think that the flying under the radar of geraniums here is especially true nowadays. In the late 1900s and early 2000s there were far more varieties available. That actually goes for perennials in general.

Gorgeous, mlobaito!! Thanks for sharing...I love the darker foliage, so pretty!

Wait - Suzy Jackson are you (and roseprimula) the old campanula who disappeared under mysterious circumstances a few years ago? Keeper of an Emglish allotment??

Yep, that's me. Did you guess from the rambling waffle?

I got banned off Houzz for persisting in calling a poster a 'racist shitehawk'. TBF, this was in the infamous Hot Topics...which Houzz finally banished into cyber-obscurity...probably after getting a million flags (although I never flagged anyone - preferred the more upfront verbal jugular).

I was more...ahem...upfront , sweary and furious back then...I am older, meeker and considerably less confrontational now...but still inclined to going on at (tedious) length. I think a few people on the ARF breathed a sigh of relief (I even annoyed myself).

well welcome back😀

I missed the specific epithet that got you canned. That was a juicy one.

you do seem more modulated now but dont lose yiur edge. it makes you you.