Cranesbills or hardy geraniums are invaluable plants, bettered by none for attractive and weed proof ground cover. Excellent beneath shrubs and roses. Parasol-shaped foliage, more or less deeply cut, always beautiful and often scented. The flowers are jewel-like in intensity of colour and produced over a long period in great profusion. Easy to grow, mostly in ordinary soil, in sun or light shade.
A wonderful, diverse but readily recognizable genus, all species and forms irrespective of their native provenance are of immense value to garden pollinators, with the exception of doubled forms which have fewer nectar and pollen resources. Bees (of all kinds) and hoverflies visit for nectar and pollen, and finches and other small birds eat the seeds. Many species form effective ground cover, helping to conserve water and giving shelter to amphibians and invertebrates, while the leaves are relatively palatable to the larvae of several moth species.