'Crane's-Bill' or 'Spotted Crane's Bill' or 'Wild Crane's Bill' or 'Spotted Geranium' or 'Wild Geranium'. GERANIACEAE.
Wild geraniums are found growing in open woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to Georgia and Missouri. This geranium grows about a foot in height but will sometimes reach a height up to 2 feet, most of ours grows about 15-18' tall. Plants erect, usually unbranched, and some what hairy. In cultivation plants grow into clumps but in the wild they tend to grow as single to three stemmed clumps but in such large numbers that they carpet the ground over large areas. The leaves, which are 3 to 6 inches wide, are deeply parted into 5-7 divisions, each division is cleft and toothed. The flower color is from rose-purple to pale or violet-purple or pale lilac white. Plants bloom in April to June and are borne in loose clusters and shaped like a teacup saucer. This Native North American geranium has from 1 to 1 « inches wide flowers with some even larger. Plants have five petals and show a good variation in flower color and shape with some forms having large flowers with large spaces between the petals while others have nice full rounded flowers. The fruit capsule, which springs open when ripe, castes the seeds away from the plants like a catapult, consists of five cells each containing one seed. The rootstock is 2 to 4 inches long, thick, which in cultivation has numerous branches with scars showing the remains of stems from past years growth. This plant is said to have some medicinal uses. Plant in part shade in moist but well drained rich soil, plants are showy in bloom and the foliage is attractive when not in flower. If the ground is dry in summer, plants will go dormant in mid to late summer.
Zones 3-8. Sow seeds in moist medium and place in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator for three weeks, sow in pots and keep at 70 F. germination from 3-90 days. Blooms in three years.
20 seeds.
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