Geranium 'Espresso'

This geranium is most valued for the distinctive chocolate color, which it maintains all season. But in late spring, it also blooms lavishly in bright lavender flowers held above the deeply lobed foliage on long willowy stems. The beaked seed pods that emerge after flowering gave this plant the common name cranesbill.

Bushy and clump-forming, growing 2 feet tall and wide, this extraordinary perennial makes a great low-growing companion for leggier plants in mixed beds and borders. It prefers moist, well-drained soil but is drought tolerant and adaptive to a wide range of soils, including chalk, clay, loam, sand, acidic, alkaline, and neutral. It is also deer and rabbit resistant. So, it is a perfect addition to cottage, prairie, and rock gardens. Wherever it's planted, butterflies follow.