Batten Blooms
PL. —Geranium carolinianumBotanical illustration — drop image
Geranium carolinianum

Carolina Geranium

SpringSummer
3a–9bHardiness zone
Peak bloom windowZone 6b · frost-offset weeks
Winter
Peak bloom
Spring
Peak bloom
Summer
In bloom
Fall
Not in bloom
Peak bloom
In bloom
Background

One of the most widespread native geraniums in North America, Carolina geranium is a low, multi-branched winter annual that germinates in fall, overwinters as a small rosette, and sends up small, pale pink to white five-petaled flowers from early spring into summer. Deeply lobed, reddish-hairy foliage and long, tapering seed capsules (the "crane's bill" the genus is named for) make it easy to identify even out of bloom.

It thrives in exactly the poor, dry, gravelly, or clay soil most garden plants struggle in, needing no supplemental care once established. Bees and other pollinators visit the flowers and birds eat the seed. It self-seeds readily and can turn weedy in cultivated beds, so it's best suited to naturalized areas, gravel gardens, or gaps between other plants rather than a tended border edge.

Good companions
BluestarsAstersSweetspireMountain Mints
Care guide
SunFull sun to part shade
WaterLow; drought tolerant
SoilPoor to average, sandy or gravelly, well-drained; tolerates clay
Spacing8–12 in
Height6–12 in
Zone3a – 9b
Native RegionAL, AZ, AR, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Direct sowFrost hardy
Seasonal tasks
spring
watchEnjoy small pale pink flowers on low, sprawling plants through spring.
sowLet seed drop in place in fall, or direct sow; plants overwinter as low rosettes and don't need protection.
summer
watchWatch pollinators visit the flowers and birds feed on the ripening seed.
cutPull unwanted volunteers before seed capsules ripen and split if it's spreading further than wanted.