Geranium macrorizum is a perennial herbaceous plant with a strong pleasant smell, a rhizomatous herbaceous plant with erect or ascending, branching stems in the upper part 20-40 cm (7.9-15.7 inches) high. Basal rosette leaves are long-stemmed, 10-20 cm (3.9-7.9 inches) long. The flowers are pink-purple, blood-red or pale pink, collected in 2 on pedicels 1-6 cm (0.4-2.4 inches) long ; blooms in June. Ripen in July-August.
Decorative varieties:
- Bevan’variety-dark red-purple flowers;
- Czacor – the height of the plant is 30 cm (11.8 inches), the autumn leaves have a purple hue;
- Ingwersen’s Variety -the leaves are light green, the flowers are light pink;
- Variegatum – Shrub 30 cm (11.8 inches) high, gray-green leaves with a cream variety, purple-pink flowers.
It is a small plant with rather elegant, beautiful foliage that maintains its decorative appearance throughout the growing season. Decorative deciduous varieties are particularly effective. Geraniums form a free-form groundcover curtain, reminiscent of the flowering period of bright carpets, most elegant in shaded areas.
It is recommended to create carpet flowerbeds, planting in groups under trees, on slats; it can be used instead of a lawn as a ground cover. The distance between the plants is 25-30 cm (9.8-11.8 inches), between the rows 70-100 cm (2.3-3.3 feet). This perennial prefers fertile soil; it can grow in one place for quite a long time.
Geranium is used not only for garden decoration; it is a food, spicy, medicinal plant. In food, use rhizomes, roots, grass with a pleasant fruit (strawberry-pineapple) taste (as a flavoring of cookies, fruit salads, jellies, mousses, soft drinks). For medicinal purposes, use fresh leaves and rhizomes that have an astringent, wound-healing, hypotensive effect. They improve the work of the heart, stimulate neuropsychiatric activity.
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