prairie wildflower

Sticky geranium

Geranium viscosissimum

Also known as Sticky Purple Geranium, Sticky Wild Geranium

Native to the Pacific Coast, the Rockies, and the Southwest and southern Canada

British Columbia to northern California, east of the Cascades, east to Saskatchewan, the Black Hills and western Nebraska.

Light Full sun to shade Sun tolerance
Moisture Moist Moisture preference
Zones 2–8 Cold to heat range
Bloom May–Aug Flowering time
Height up to 3 ft to 0.9 m
Life cycle Annual or perennial Annual to perennial

Full details, see below

In the garden

A prairie wildflower for sun through shade and evenly moist soil. Its pink and purple flowers peak in June. At up to 3 ft, it suits meadows and sunny borders. Hardy in USDA zones 2–8.

Growing conditions

Light

Full sun Partial shade Full shade

Moisture

Dry Moist Wet

Hardiness zones

Find your zone:

When it blooms

The Sticky geranium's pink and purple flowers bloom May to August, peaking in June. This early-summer display draws bees and butterflies.

Sticky geranium blooms pink & purpleFoliage

Pollinators & wildlife

Bees Brown-belted Bumble Bee

also Western Honey Bee, Yellow-faced Bumble Bee, Black-tailed Bumble Bee +65 more
Bombus fervidus, Red-belted Bumble Bee, Hunt's Bumble Bee, Perplexing Bumble Bee, Fuzzy-Horned Bumble Bee, European Woolcarder Bee, Two-form Bumble Bee, Half-black Bumble Bee, Yellow-fronted Bumble Bee, Tripartite Sweat Bee, California Bumble Bee, Great Basin Bumble Bee, Modest Masked Bee, Confusing Furrow Bee, Nearctic Bumble Bee, Urbane Digger Bee, Yellowish Cuckoo Bumble bee, Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumble Bee, White-shouldered Bumble Bee, Western Bumble Bee, Common Longhorn Bee, Parallel-striped Sweat Bee, Green Small-Mason, frigid bumble bee, Golden-tailed Leafcutter Bee, Golden-belted Bumble Bee, Black-fronted turret bee, Small-handed Leaf-cutter Bee, Annulate Masked Bee, Black-and-green Metallic-Sweat bee, Produced Small-Mason, Carinate Armored-Resin bee, Incomplete Sweat Bee, Tiny Small carpenter, Black-tipped Miner Bee, Glittering Cellophane Bee, California Mason Bee, Megachile lapponica, Marin County Sweat Bee, Elderberry Small-Mason, Osmia calla, Episcopal Masked Bee, Osmia juxta, Osmia tristella, White-sided Mason Bee, Melissodes ablusus, Osmia trevoris, Osmia bella, Montana Cuckoo Carder Bee, Osmia ednae, Osmia pusilla, Osmia subaustralis, Cinquefoil Masked Bee, Ashmeadiella pronitens, Osmia paradisica, Blue-and-black Mining Bee, Topaz Miner Bee, Singular Miner Bee, Stelis holocyanea, Ceratina neomexicana, Osmia nanula, Shifty Miner Bee, Titus's Sweat Bee, Rose Miner Bee, Melissodes lupinus
Butterflies Pearl Crescent

also Dainty Sulphur, Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Woodland Skipper +9 more
Marine Blue, Hobomok Skipper, Melissa Blue, Common Alpine, Dorcas Copper, Mottled Duskywing, Plebejus saepiolus, Speyeria mormonia, Western Arctic Skipper
Flower flies Large-tailed Aphideater

also Variable Duskyface Fly, Black-footed Drone Fly, Eastern Forest Sedgesitter +3 more
Systoechus fumipennis, Eurasian Smoothwing, Eupeodes sp.F1
Also visited by
- Beetles: Bee-mimic Beetle, Gnathacmaeops pratensis
- Wasps: Ancistrocerus adiabatus albolacteus

Butterflies that use this plant

Documented host and nectar records. Each links to a planting guide for that butterfly.

Full plant details

Where it grows

Habitat: PrairieThe wild plant community it grows in.
Native range: The Pacific Coast, the Rockies, and the Southwest and southern CanadaUnited States (11): CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY. Canada (3): AB, BC, SK. Where it grows wild on its own, by state and province.
Native distribution: British Columbia to northern California, east of the Cascades, east to Saskatchewan, the Black Hills and western Nebraska.The same native range, usually more exact than the state list, and often noting where it has spread beyond it.

Growing conditions

Light: Full sun to shadeHow much sun it takes, from full sun to full shade.
Moisture: MoistThe soil dampness it prefers, from dry to wet.
Hardiness zones: USDA 2–8 · Canadian 1–7The cold-to-heat climate range it survives.
Soil: Various dry-mesic to moist soilsThe soils it grows in naturally.
Soil texture: Light to heavy (sandy to clay)The soil grade it prefers, from sand to clay.
Soil pH: 7.0–8.0The acidity to alkalinity it tolerates (7 is neutral).
Soil quality: LowHow rich a soil it needs. Many natives prefer lean soil and flop in rich beds.
Water use: LowHow thirsty it is, a rough guide to how often to water.
Salinity tolerance: NoneHow well it copes with salty soil, near roads or the coast.
Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance: LowHow well it copes with chalky, lime-rich soil.

Growth & form

Height: up to 3 ft (to 0.9 m)Typical mature height.
Spread: ~2 ft (0.6 m)How wide one plant gets, a guide to spacing.
Life cycle: Annual or perennialWhether it lives a single season (annual), two (biennial), or returns for years (perennial).
Growth rate: RapidA relative ranking versus other plants of the same type (USDA), not an absolute rate.
Shape: ErectIts overall silhouette.
Root depth: 6+ in (15+ cm)How far the roots reach, a guide to drought resilience and transplanting.

Flowers, foliage & fruit

Type: WildflowerWhat kind of plant it is.
Bloom: May–AugWhen it flowers.
Flower color: Pink, PurpleThe bloom color, or colors.
Fruit/Seeds: Schizocarp (beaked); ripens Jun–SepThe seed or fruit it sets after flowering.
Toxicity: None knownWhether any part is poisonous to people or pets.

Propagation & seed

Cold stratification: Not requiredWhether seed needs a cold, moist spell before it will germinate.
Propagation: SeedHow to start new plants.
Seed: ~0.1 million seeds per poundNotes on the seed and how to sow it.
Seed spread rate: RapidHow readily it self-sows. Slow or none means well-behaved, not a spreader.
Seedling vigor: HighHow strongly young seedlings establish.
Vegetative spread: NoneWhether it creeps outward or stays put in a clump.