Wild Geraniums
An awakening...
My first look at Wild Geraniums was on a vertical cliff, which forms the far bank of Crow Creek, near my home.
Pink-purple flowers leaned out over the stream, lavish among mosses, ferns, and other wildflowers.
I didn’t know what they were.
I wanted a closer look, but there was no way to reach the plants, across the deep creek and against a cliff that dropped as straight as a curtain. Without success I searched the banks on my side of the creek for more of the flowers.
At home I paged through Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands, by Sylvan T. Runkel, until I found it. Wild Geranium, a native wildflower widespread in Eastern North America.
I needed this plant where I could see it every day. I needed it near my home.
A friend, a horticulturist by profession and passion, invited me on a mid-spring day to see his White Oak grove. He seemed quite set on our walking to the site from a certain direction.
As we rounded a hill, an expanse of Wild Geraniums appeared suddenly. Masses of lavender and violet blossoms quilted the sloping ground. They were radiant in sunlight that filtered through the leaves of ancient oak trees.
I was gasping at the sight, my eyes filled with the unspeakably lovely colors of the petals.
My friend was smiling. “This is why I wanted to come from this direction. So that you would get the full effect.”
He gave me permission to come back and collect seeds when they ripened, which I joyfully took him up on. That fall, I scattered seeds under an oak tree next to my home.
The next year, Wild Geraniums came up all over.
The big, odd leaves were instantly recognizable, with their deeply cut lobes and toothy borders. The plants did not bloom that year. They spent their first year building their roots.
The next year, the buds opened. What impressed me most were the ten custard-yellow anthers, accented by fine red lines.
Wild Geraniums are some of the easiest plants I’ve ever grown. They seem to prefer the shade of deciduous trees, but I’ve found them in sunny locations, too. They like the soil damp, but they get along even when it’s dry. They thrive in deep loamy soil but can also grow in rocky ground.
Every year I cut some stems as they’re going to seed and toss them where I’d like to see more Wild Geraniums.
How many more? I’ll let the Wild Geraniums decide.
Wild Geraniums!
O, let them decide,
These while beauties,
Flourishing under the trees!
On the far bank of Crow Creek,
leaning out over the stream,
lavish among mosses and ferns,
Wild Geraniums!
Appearing suddenly: masses of lavender
quilt the ground...
radiant in sunlight through the Oaks...
unspeakably lovely colors, deeply cut lobes, and toothy
petal-borders, custard-yellow anthers
with fine red lines!
O, their wonderful decision when and where to bloom!
Love your writing, Diane...Always inspiring me to poetry. Thank you for loving Wild Geraniums and so many other natural things!
I love your close observation of plants, Diane--especially the tiny ones that escape almost everybody's notice. I'll think of you, and of your wildings, when I take Molly (our elderly heeler) out next hour, through our wild geraniums. They've stopped blooming already--we're earlier than you--but the leaves are still green and pretty. Thank you for these wonderful deep looks!