Among our top favorite groundcover plants for low-water, partly-shaded gardens are Cambridge Geranium (Geranium x cantabrigiense) and its best cultivars. They excel as low-maintenance colorful, long-blooming and long-lived, low-growing, spreading evergreen carpets under trees and in east and north exposures.
Right now we have plenty of cultivars ‘Biokovo’(palest blush), ‘Westray’ (pink), ‘St. Ola’ (white flowers from red buds) and ‘Crystal Rose’(unique vivid pink).
Geranium cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’
Rarely exceeding 12” tall, they provide dense masses of bloom over attractive mid-green foliage that emits a spicy woodland fragrant when rubbed. A second season of color comes in fall and winter, when the foliage turns shades of red and orange.
Cambridge Geraniums are happy in most soil types, including clay, and thrive in USDA zones 4 through 7. They can also be grown in sunnier exposures with more water, and in full shade with less flowering.
Wikipedia offers this: “Geranium × cantabrigiense was originally obtained in cultivation in 1974, when Dr. Helen Kiefer of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden used pollen of G. dalmaticum to fertilize G. macrorrhizum. The resulting plant is sterile, producing long-lasting pink flowers that do not set seed, but spreads vegetatively through trailing stems. This hybrid has since been found in the wild, having formed through natural hybridization where both parents co-occur. One naturally occurring form discovered in the Biokovo mountains of Croatia has been introduced in cultivation as the cultivar ‘Biokovo’.”
Geranium cantabrigiense, Dwarf