Experience with Geranium cinereum?

Does anyone have experience with geranium cinereum? I bought a "purple pillow" this spring and just after I planted it, it rained for a month and the cinereum died. I just loved it (very briefly) and would like to plant it again, but not if I'm going to kill it off. I know it's supposed to like good drainage and more sun than my other geraniums, but how little sun will it tolerate? I'm wondering if it would have survived had there not been record rain.

'Purple Pillow' looks like a great one! I have 'Ballerina' which I believe is G. c.. I'm guessing high shade (as compared to dense shade) with a little sun would be okay. But I think you're right about the rainfall. Your area has gotten an awful lot of rain. Were the foliage and flower colors as intense as the commercial photos indicate?

I didn't see it for long, unfortunately, but bought it fairly locally because it was gorgeous in person. No one seems to have it now. I think I have "ballerina" on my want list - I know I have a few other g. cinereums there. They're all gorgeous in the pics and a great size for my small yard.

I'm on my second attempt with 'Purple Pillow'. The first was planted in partial shade and moist soils and it quickly rotted away :( I purchased another this spring from Digging Dog and planted it in a rock garden with excellent drainage and more sun. So far it seems fairly happy, have had only one or two blooms but it's still very small. I was in Maine earlier this summer trying to landscape my daughter's garden in all that rain so I'm sure your poor 'Purple Pillow' didn't take kindly to being swamped!

Do the G. cinereum like a drier site as a rule compared to the other species? I seem to have the best luck with the G. cantabrigiense ('Biokovo' and 'Karmina') since they seem to like my soil and site the best.
I haven't ordered from Digging Dog in a long time. Has their selection grown?

Thanks, rcn. Yes, less than ideal conditions up here earlier this summer (most of the summer actually). Sorry you had to experience it. But it does sound like "purple pillow" is quite finicky. I had hoped to use it to brighten up my part-shade to shade areas, where my other geraniums are quite happy, but not as brightly flowered. I have no "full sun" areas, and my sunniest spots are already jampacked with as much as I can fit in them. How much sun does your purple pillow get where it is now?

Cindy, we cross-posted, but I've been told that they're fussier in terms of needing good drainage.

Everything I've read and heard from other gardeners, G. cinereum is a fussy plant and the "gray" foliage generally indicates they won't like it in moist soils. The area I planted mine is where I have a lot of other 'rock garden' types, good drainage and almost full sun. Only time will tell if it's happy there!

Cindy, Digging Dog has a tremendous selection of plants but I only order if it's something I absolutely HAVE to have! Some of the plants I've received from them aren't the most vigorous mail order plants I've ever received but their prices are fairly reasonable - it's the shipping that kills me :(

perenniallyme, even though the "less than ideal conditions" haven't been pleasant, they actually saved my daughter, a total newbie, from losing a lot of what I planted while I was there. I posted updates on my thread recently about my landscape project there, she's done a great job of keeping everything alive and they're growing! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1009424/#new

rcn - Once had a G. renardii from Mt. Tahoma. Planted it high for good drainage but I think too much shade and clay soil worked against it. Know what you mean about shipping costs. Forestfarm is my favorite but only if I have money to burn on shipping.

rcn, that was quite a project! Glad the rain was good for something besides slugs, snails, lily beetles and other insects!

Well it looks like I'll really be chancing it to try g. cinereum again, but I'll probably have to do it anyway when I find one again. I usually give up after 3 tries with any plant.

perenniallyme - You have far more perseverance than I.

You probably mean stubbornness! You have far more perseverance in the garden than I do, judging by your recent projects!

I don't really have patience but I do like to keep busy physically ever since I quit my desk job. My recent project is more to keep the lower garden from reverting to a poison ivy-filled wasteland. :)

You definitely have perseverance, whatever you say. It probably would have taken me all summer to do what you did in a week.

perenniallyme, I believe we Yankees are known for our "stubbornness" and it doesn't bother me a bit. I'd rather be called stubborn than lazy! LOL

Cindy, I can only hope that when I'm able to retire I'll have the stamina to accomplish as much as you :)

rcn - Don't use the "r" word around DH. Let's just say I'm under 60 and when I left my job, it was only to have a little respite to do some things I didn't normally have time to do. And I wanted to do some more gardening before I got too decrepit to do it. I was supposed to go back to work before now but then the economy took a nose-dive. Still feel that there's lots to be done before I'm chained to a desk again and just trying to take advantage of the time. Probably why I'm so driven this summer. And it all started with the "Favorite Astilbe" thread, finding out I REALLY needed to divide those Astilbe. Sure opened my eyes to what needed to be done.

So you're a transplanted northerner, rcn?
Well there's at least one of us stubborn folk who uses the lazy gardening method. That is, do a little work, a lot of looking and thinking, a little work, a lot of look and think... and so forth.

Cindy, we cross posted. Well go to it, girl! You certainly have my admiration!

DH says I never sit still. I can get tunnel vision with just doing the grunt work and actually have to force myself to stop and think things out.

A "transplanted northerner" from Bangor, Maine :) When I moved here ten years ago I was labeled as one of the "good Yankees", I guess that's a good thing? LOL Can't be any different than how I felt when I had a hard time with all the "flatlanders" invading my space in Maine :)

Cindy, I try not to use the "r" word around DH either! He's 3 years younger than me but I've only got two more years to go before 60 and I'm already looking forward to "it". I'm on a mission to get things done so when I'm too "decrepit" to work in the gardens I can finally relax and enjoy them :)

How funny about the "r" word. I've always worked and have always had a "wanna do" list but never get to most of it. I figure when I really retire that I'll never run out of things to do.
Major culture shock moving from Maine to VA? Do you enjoy the change in the temp zone?

Major culture shock moving from Maine to VA? Just a little :) LOL I don't miss the snow, ice OR mud season at all but there are some plants I just can't grow here and Delphiniums are probably the ones I miss the most :( Of course, on the other hand, there are so many MORE things I can grow! I was too far north (Z4) to grow Redbuds and every May I'd travel to Massachusetts to see them flowering. I don't have to travel anymore, they grow WILD along the edge of the woods here :) We've had a couple of miserable hot and dry summers here but oddly enough, the temps during a 'normal' summer aren't that different from Maine, they just last a little longer! AND unlike Maine, we have AC here so I can deal with it. I love to go "home" for visits but I have no intentions of going back, the ice storm of '97 pretty much convinced me that I needed to move south!

Wow - no redbuds, huh? When visiting daughter at Easter in Columbia, TN, I always look forward to the wild ones along I65, starting in central IN and continuing through KY, where the wild dogwoods pick up. Daughter has tons of those in her partially-wooded 7 acre lot. We've bee down there a couple of times in July and the temps aren't that bad. But Aug and Sep are another matter. I do like my cooler weather. The two previous years have also been hot and dry for her but they've gotten plenty of rain this year. Have only been to VA a couple of times. Grandmother used to live in Lynchburg and have done the Williamsburg thing too. Have always wanted to visit the Maine coast but haven't made it yet. What's the best time of year?

Lynchburg - right over the mountains! We're in the Shenandoah Valley, west of the Blue Ridge Mtns, so it's actually cooler here than what people typically think of VA weather. If you ever make it to Maine, early June or late September are my favorite times to visit. Traffic along the Maine coast in the summer is horrid :( If you do go, put Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens at the top of your list! http://www.mainegardens.org/ I was finally able to visit the gardens for the first time this summer and they are unbelievable :) We were there the weekend of their annual Garden Fair. There was so much to see but the weather was miserable so I've got to go back!

I saw the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on a tv program last year (in fact, it's still "saved" on TIVO). I was surprised to see that William Cullina (sp?) had moved there from Garden In the Woods. While we have Lake Michigan, the coastal scenery looks much more dramatic. My favorite/scariest drive was the Blue Ridge Parkway coming back from VA to TN. Williamsburg in July was miserably hot and it was so delightful to cross over into the mountains on the way back and cool off.