Wild Geranium

Wild geranium, Geranium maculatum, is what it sounds like, the uncultivated perennial northern-hardy ancestor of the popular garden flower. Its commercial cousin is often used like an annual in hanging baskets or planters, sometimes taken indoors to winter in a cellar, but the wild variety is actually native to Cook County, can be seen in forest preserves where it has been reintroduced (or never left), and survives winter. it bears a familiar-looking five-petal flower, as seen above, usually in some shade of pale pink to almost white; the leaves are toothier and spikier than the domesticated cultivar. The plant grows to between 2' and 3' and blooms between April and June, depending on location, typically toward late May in Evanston. It prefers rich soil and part shade. Below: Wild geraniums along a trail in a forest preserve in May.