Life After Lawn: Geranium with star power

This is one part in a weekly series featuring the UC Davis Arboretum’s “Life After Lawn” series – 45 can’t-fail, easy-care, low-water plants well adapted to our region and ideal for drought-tolerant landscapes.

Rozanne hardy geranium

Geranium ‘Gerwat’ Rozanne ®

Size: Under 2 feet tall and wide.

Bloom season: Large open violet blue flowers with white centers in spring, summer and fall.

Exposure: Full sun and light shade.

Pruning needs: Little or none; may get lanky if overwatered; shear foliage to freshen growth if desired.

Water needs: Medium; once established, water deeply once a week.

Snapshot: Fans in a worldwide vote named this little gem “Plant of the Centenary,” the best plant exhibited during the first 100 years of the Royal Horticultural Society’s famed Chelsea Flower Show. And no wonder; among its many assets, this blue beauty is drought tolerant, too. With large purple-blue flowers, this showy true geranium is almost constantly in bloom from early spring until frost and amazingly tough. Ideal in mixed perennial beds, it does best with a little afternoon shade and well-drained soil. Use for extra color in and around other plants where it will spread and weave among the plants, creating beautiful color combinations. Although low-growing, Rozanne holds its flowers high and blooms in repeated flushes. The silver-mottled foliage is attractive, too.

For more on “Life After Lawn,” click on arboretum.ucdavis.edu.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Life After Lawn: Geranium with star power."