Geraniums in bloom

Wild geraniums are my Friday photo. This morning I am feeling as though I’m “done” with flower photos for the short term and plan to look for other woodland things that catch my eye this weekend. On Roundtop I’ve pretty much photo’d all the regular spring wildflowers found the mountain. Summer brings a different set of blooms, but even with the heat that’s predicted for this weekend, it will be too soon for them for a while.

Wild geraniums are a favorite of mine. That shade of pale purple or lavendar is striking and unusual. For a wildflower the blooms are large and gaudy. The plant is usually 8-10 or so inches tall and the blooms are close to an inch across. Each plant has several blooms, which only makes them stand out even more. This year the number of geraniums is fairly normal, which is something of a letdown after last year when they ran riot across the forest floor.

The wild geranium has several common names—wood geranium is one I like—but I’ve never heard it called that around here and “here” is where I live, so I’m sticking with wild geranium. The plant is happy in both dry and moist woods. Roundtop falls into the generally dry category, at least most of the time. Apparently the blooms can sometimes be white or nearly so, too. That’s another version I’ve never found here. I don’t think I’d like the white version as much as the purple ones. Part of the reason I like the flower is for the color of it.