Meadow crane's-bill
Geranium pratense
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Conservation Status
Green, least concern
Best Time to See
June to September
Natural Habitat
Meadows, roadsides, grasslands, open woods and dunes, especially in limestone areas in the Cotswolds and Wiltshire. Further north, it is less choosy about soils.
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’.
www.plantlife.org.uk for more information
SHOP FOR Meadow crane's-bill
URBAN MEADOW
A beautiful mix of native wildflowers that is perfect for pollinators and the most hardy of our wildflower mixes. Urban Meadow is a colour combination of annuals and perennials developed in collaboration with River of Flowers – a fantastic and inspiring organisation working to create and connect urban meadows across the globe. Each seed ball contains approximately 30 seeds from a mix of Common toadflax, Cornflower, Cowslip, Meadow cranesbill, Musk mallow, Oxeye daisy and Red campion, plus a sprinkling of pollinator-friendly annuals Chamomile, Cornflower, Corn marigold, and Night-flowering catchfly. See Full Listing.
SKY MEADOW
An all blue-flowing native wildflower mix bursting with Cornflowers, Forget-me-nots, Meadow cranesbill, Self Heal and Wild Clary. Did you know that bees see colour in a different way to humans? They respond to blue and ultraviolet light, and this mix is designed to provide an attractive mix of blue wildflowers to help attract our buzzing friends to your balconies and garden beds! See Full Listing.
