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Geranium ‘Brookside’
hardy geranium, cranesbill
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Image © Lynne Thompson/Great Plant Picks
Image © Lynne Thompson/Great Plant Picks |
Printer-friendly Fact Sheet
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| Outstanding Qualities |
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‘Brookside’ comes to us from the Cambridge Botanic Garden. It’s similar to the long-popular ‘Johnson’s Blue’, but ‘Brookside’ has a much sturdier habit and better foliage. The deeply cut leaves of ‘Brookside’ form a rosette to about 18 inches high and wide. From June to late summer it produces deep, clear blue flowers with white throats. These rise above the leaves to about 18 inches high. Cutting back results in a second round of late summer to fall blooms, just when its red-and-gold autumn colors appear. ‘Brookside’ makes a good filler plant for full-sun perennial or mixed borders. Combine it with foxgloves (Digitalis), Hosta ‘Golden Tiara’, Bowles’ golden sedge and astrantias. It’s also great in a container. It is a hybrid of G. pratense and G. clarkei ‘Kashmir Purple’. ‘Brookside’ is named for a street in Cambridge, England. |
| Culture |
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This hardy geranium prefers full sun, but it can take part shade for half of the day. It does best in moist, well-drained soil. If grown in afternoon shade, it is more drought tolerant. Do not add much compost or fertilizer or the plant may grow too quickly and flop over. If flowering slows down in summer, the whole plant can be cut to the ground, fertilized very lightly and watered well. It will rebound with a fresh batch of leaves and flowers. Cut the stems and leaves to the ground in late fall. If your garden has a high population of root weevil pests, they may eat this geranium. Consult your local nursery if you see notches on the edges of the leaves. |
| Growing Habit |
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Geranium ‘Brookside’ is a deciduous, herbaceous perennial that forms a neat mound of leaves to about 18 inches high and wide. |
| Hardiness |
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USDA zones 5 to 8 |
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© 2009 Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden
Funded by the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation
Administered by the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden