A common plant in the garden is the geranium or pink cranesbill. From early spring to late autumn, there are varieties that flower in gardens and/or outdoors in pots on the terrace or balcony. Geraniums in the colors white, pink, purple, blue, and almost black.
The pink cranesbill (Geranium endless) is a geranium species that add color to the fall garden. The pink flowers are perky in the autumn between all the fallen autumn leaves, blooming.
Genus Geranium (cranesbill)
The Dutch name of the Geranium endless is pink stork’s beak. The pink cranesbill is a flowering, herbaceous, and perennial plant of the genus Geranium in the Geraniaceae family (cranesbill family). Other genera in the cranesbill family include the:
- Pelargonium;
- Heron’s beak.
Species Of Cranesbill
More than 600 species and varieties of the genus Cranesbill (Geranium) are cultivated as garden plants. In addition, many species have a tendency to spread and become natural in nature. Species commonly planted in gardens are:
- Geranium cinereum: low cranesbill with pink flowers and suitable for the rock garden;
- Geranium phaeum : a dark cranesbill with stems up to 60 centimeters and dark purple to black colored flowers. The flowering time is from May to June;
- Geranium Himalayas: a cranesbill with large blue flowers that blooms in late May through June;
- Geranium Tiberium: a cranesbill that blooms in June and July with purple-blue flowers;
- Geranium macrorrhizum: a ground-covering geranium that flowers in May-June with pink to purple-red flowers;
- Geranium endless: a hardy plant with soft pink flowers and red veins.
Characteristics Of The Geranium Endressii Or Pink Cranesbill
Geranium undress is a perennial, long-flowering plant that grows to about 40 centimeters high and 50 centimeters wide. The plant can grow enormously. It makes the plant a good ground cover. The plant is native to the western Pyrenees and southwestern France. Here the plant grows in forests, roadsides, and fields, often in the vicinity of buildings. The name ‘geranium’ comes from the Greek word for ‘crane’. Endressii comes from the plant’s discoverer in the Pyrenees, a German botanist
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The pink stork’s bill is often grown as an ornamental plant and does not make many demands on the location. Preference is for a nutrient-rich, dry to slightly moist soil that is well permeable to water. The plants can be in the sun or in partial shade. The pink cranesbill blooms from June until the first frost, if the stems with fruits are cut off after the first flowering.
The leaves color in autumn and the plant can keep its leaves in mild winters. The hardy plant can tolerate temperatures down to -25 degrees, but in case of severe to very severe frost, the plant drops its leaves to sprout again in the spring. The wild plant has not become established in the Netherlands but is regularly encountered.
Roots And Stems
The plant forms underground runners through a slender, creeping rhizome. This is how the plant multiplies. This is easy to tear to plant in the desired places in the garden. The erect or ascending stems with flowers at the top are hairy.
Sheet
The leaf shape of the Geranium endless is palmate and deeply incised. Five to seven lobes can be seen.
Flowers
The veined and pink flowers consist of five fringed petals. The five petals are 16 to 33 millimeters long and have a line pattern of dark pink-colored veins. At the bottom of the pink flower are five green sepals and in the middle of the white heart of the flower are five stigmas and two five stamens.
The Fruit
The fruit stalks are upright and the elongated fruit resembles the beak of a stork, which is why the Dutch name ‘Oievaarsbek’ is due.
Pelargonium
The annual ‘geraniums’ of the genus Pelargonium are often popularly referred to as geranium. They are the cultivated plants in the genus Pelargonium of the Geraniaceae family. The annual geraniums are scientifically pelargoniums. They are called ‘annual geraniums’ because they do not survive the winter, as they are not hardy.
Difference Between The Pink Stork’S Bill And The Heron’S Bill
The heron’s beak of the genus Heron’s beak most closely resembles the pink stork’s beak (Geranium endressii), but has odd-pinnate leaves with lateral veins rising at different heights from the midrib in the leaf blade. The pink cranesbill has palmately veined leaves where the lateral veins emerge from one point at the leaf base and is therefore easy to distinguish from the heron’s bill.
