Spotted Geranium (Geranium Maculatum ‘Espresso’)

Features and Characteristics

Geranium maculatum is a clump-forming, Missouri native, woodland perennial which typically occurs in woods, thickets and shaded roadside areas throughout the State. Forms a mound of foliage that grows to 24″ tall and 18″ wide. Features 1 1/4″ diameter, pink to lilac, saucer-shaped, upward facing, 5-petaled flowers in spring for a period of 6-7 weeks. Deeply cut, palmately 5-lobed, dark green leaves (to 6″ across). Flowers give way to distinctive, beaked seed capsules which give rise to the common name of crane’s bill.

Genus name comes from the Greek word geranos meaning crane in reference to the fruit which purportedly resembles the head and beak of a crane.

Specific epithet means spotted.

‘Espresso’ is a chocolate-leaved variety. It typically forms a loose mound of foliage to 24” tall and 18” wide. Lavendar, saucer-shaped, upward-facing, 5-petaled flowers (5” diameter) appear in spring to early summer for 6-7 weeks. But it is the chocolate leaves that are the distinctive feature of this cultivar. Leaves (to 6”) are deeply cut and palmately 5-lobed and remain attractive in the garden after plants bloom as long as soil is kept moist.