It will take full coastal sun but in light shade this plant is quite drought tolerant in cooler coastal gardens, even surviving in areas without any supplemental irrigation. It is hardy to about 25 degrees - much below this and tip foliage wilts but plants survive and still bloom. Flowering usually commences on a 2-year-old seedling, but sometimes lingers to a third. Cut back when plants topple from the weight of the spent flowers but be sure to spread the seed for the next year. The following year after flowering one can enjoy the foliage, then thin out the seedlings as they approach blooming time but use care not to remove the lower leaves of the plants that are left as these acts as stilts to support the tower of flowers to come.

Geranium maderense is a rare endemic from the island of Madeira, off the north coast of Africa and north of the Canary Islands, where it grows as an understory plant of the laurel forest. This plant was described in 1969 by Peter Frederick Yeo, a botanist at the University of Cambridge, from plants in cultivation that had been introduced by a Major C.H. C. Pickering, who had discovered plants growing in the wild on the Island of Madeira in the 1950s. Yeo determined this plant was distinct from the similar but smaller Geranium palmatum. The etymology of the genus name Geranium, and the family Geraniaceae, is derived from the Greek word, 'geranos' which means "crane" from the seed capsule's resemblance to beak of this bird. The specific epithet is a Latinized word that roughly translates to "from Madeira" in reference to this plants origin. Other common names include Giant Cranesbill, Madeiran Cranesbill or Giant Herb-Robert - this last name is interesting as it references the resemblance to a large form of the malodorous Geranium robertianum, which itself has such interesting common names as Herb-Robert, Stinking Robert and Death Come-quickly that originate from English folklore. >p> Geranium maderense was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1993, the same year the San Marcos Growers began growing it. We also grow the white flowered form of this species, Geranium maderense 'Alba'. 

This information about Geranium maderense displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.