What is it? Wild Geranium, also known as Geranium maculatum, is a perennial plant.
Native to where? It is native to woodland in eastern North America, from southern Manitoba and southwestern Quebec south to Alabama and Georgia and west to Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Hardiness Zone: Plants are hardy from USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 8.
What does it look like? It can grow to 2 feet tall. The flowers are 1 to 1.6 inches in diameter, with five rose-purple, pale or violet-purple petals. They are on long petioles. Summer leaves are up to 6 inches long and wide. Flowers are produced in small clusters at the end of long stems.
Bloom Time: Blooms appear from April to June.
Growth Habit: The rhizome is long, 2 to 4 inches thick, with numerous branches.
Growing Conditions: It grows in dry to moist woods with loam or sand soil. As a woodland native, it prefers shade, but it will grow in the sun in a rich soil that is consistently damp. Plants should be spaced 1 foot apart.
Environmental Benefits: Wild geranium is a larval host plant for the leafmining moth, and the White-Marked Tussock moth.
Sources:
https://www.prairienursery.com/wild-geranium-geranium-maculatum.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_maculatum
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/geranium_maculatum.shtml
Image Source:
By Eric in SF - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11251267