Meadow crane's-bill

Description
The most widespread and striking of our native geraniums, its blue flowers make a splash in summer. In autumn its leaves turn a deep red.

Cultural info
In the Language of Flowers it symbolises envy.

How’s it doing?
Once common in hay meadows, meadow crane’s-bill in now largely restricted to road verges due to changes in agricultural practices.

Did you you know?
This wildflower was a horticultural favourite even before Elizabethan times. The famous ‘Johnson’s Blue’ is a meadow crane’s-bill/Geranium himalayense hybrid. Some nurseries provide double-flowered forms and colour variants including white as garden plants.
When seeding, its stems become erect, producing beak-like pods that give the plant its name.
Some of its lesser-known names include ‘Jingling Johnny’, ‘blue basins’, ‘gipsy’, ‘grace of God’ and ‘Loving Andrews’.