Geranium, Dusky Cranesbill, Hardy Geranium, Mourning Widow 'Samobor'

I grew this plant when I lived in Michigan, and it was rather too successful. It reseeded itself VERY prolifically and began to take over...Read More a huge flower bed. I had trouble keeping it in check. It was very pretty, though.

Now I live in Massachusetts, and I inherited a large, mostly shady area around the edge of my property with little in it. I planted a couple of Samobors, hoping that they would be as vigorous as they were in my previous garden, to help fill in the empty area. They perversely have not spread at all and have not even grown much. They grew in partial shade before, but perhaps I have a bit too much here? Or the soil is too rocky?

Mourning Widow Cranesbill is an intriguing hardy geranium, especially suitable for a woodland edge garden. The plant does set seed though...Read More not invasively. It is not sterile. The seedlings will not always come true to type if you have a named variety such as the above 'Samobor' however there is only slight variation. Usually this involves the amount of black showing on leaves. 20 years after planting this variety, I am still getting true to type seedlings which are very welcome as the original plants have died out. A lovely little plant, worth cherishing.

i received this plant from a friend a few years ago. It is a tough little plant. It survived a long 8 hour trip back to my home and a few...Read More days before I actually got it into the ground. It survived being transplanted from an east facing bed to a west facing bed.

it now grows in a sunny, west facing bed amended with lots of compost. It can look a bit brown around the edges by mid-late summer, but it has reseeded prolifically in that spot. I started 2 new plants from it's seedlings two years ago in other areas of the flower beds and now they are as big as the parent plant. They also look like the parent plant.

It has interesting foliage, but tiny flowers. I keep it just for the foliage.

This is a lovely early-flowering plant. While the flowers are not very showy, they do seem to last a fairly long time (several weeks). It...Read More also self-seeds readily and the volunteers are easily relocated.