water avens
Geum rivale
RHS Plants for Pollinators
- Habit
- Herb
- Bloom season
- Spring, summer
- Bloom color
- Brown-purple calyx and cream to purple-pink petals
- Foliage color
- Green
- Soil types
- Sand, loam, chalk
- Soil pH
- Acid, alkaline, neutral
Garden uses
Attracts
Notes
Water avens (Geum rivale) is a perennial for pollinator gardens, ground cover, and meadows. It is hardy to USDA zone 3, or down to -40°F (-40°C). This plant likes full or part sun and average to wet, sandy, loamy, or chalky soil. Several purple flowers nod from a hairy flowering stem about 1 foot high, and bees visit the blooms. It is not a favorite of deer, though hungry deer will eat almost anything. Large basal leaves are divided into three lobed leaflets.
Pairs well with Swamp milkweed, Royal fern, and Indian grass.
Native range
North America, Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, and 13 more places. See all 17
North America, Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, Altay, Buryatiya, Føroyar, Irkutsk, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, NW. Balkan Pen., New Hampshire, New Jersey, Prince Edward I., Rhode I., Türkiye, and Xinjiang.