Geranium 'Biokovo'

Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' is a garden workhorse, which is a stock phrase in garden literature but is appropriate in this instance. 'Biokovo' is a hardy geranium, sometimes called cranesbill, as opposed to a tender zonal geraniums. Zonal geraniums, the colorful and slightly old fashioned plants that often provide the thriller role in pots and hanging baskets, are actually pelargoniums. (Apparently, the confusion results from a 17th botanical misclassification that grouped the two species into one based on the similarity of the seed pods).

'Biokovo' is a mat-forming geranium that spreads over time by short stolons (runners). It does a great job of supressing weeds. It is evergreen in the Willamette Valley and produces a flush of pale pink flowers in early May, with an occasional repeat flower throughout the summer season. The simple flower attracts our native bumblebees. The foliage turns red in the fall. I read that it does well in full sun, but mine is in partial shade and it nicely occupies the ground under trees and shrubs.

In this photo, 'Biokovo' is knitting together the ground space between a Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga,' a Pieris japonica 'Valley Valentine,' and a mophead hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla cv.).