Geranium, Dwarf Cranesbill, Grayleaf Geranium, Hardy Geranium 'Splendens'

Geranium subcaulescens 'Splendens' is actually a hybrid between Geranium subcaulescens and another unknown Geranium. George Arends raised...Read More this plant in the 1920's and it first went on sale at his German nursery in 1930. This information is freely obtainable on a German website.
The fact that it was wild collected by an English Nurseryman in the mid 1930's is totally false and the story is more likely to be that the nurseryman first listed this plant at that time after importing it from Germany.
Geranium subcaulescens is very variable in the wild, the best and most striking forms have a black centre but this is not a constant feature. Pink forms can be found although they are not common, sometimes they have a black centre but they can also have reddish one.
This plant will not have any synonyms as it is a hybrid but it usually is listed as a form of Geranium subcaulescens, which it is not. In any case, Geranium argenteum is a different species to Geranium subcaulescens and grows in a different part of Europe.
The plant 'Giuseppi' was collected in Albania in 1929 by Dr Paul Giuseppi. I feel it must have been collected as seed due to the fact it would be almost impossible to keep living material alive in a hot car for weeks. Unfortunately, somebody in the past has decided that the name was spelled incorrectly, thinking it was a species and placed another i at the end of the name, turning it into a male commemorative, giving us giuseppii. Apparently, adding a capital G gives us an acceptable cultivar name 'Giuseppii' under modern rules of nomenclature. However it is not a species and personally I think it a poor representative of Geranium subcaulescens.
Geranium subcaulescens is a Balkan species and should no longer be confused with Geranium cinereum from the Pyrenees.

Flowers a brilliant carmine-magenta with a black center and veins, slightly larger than typical.

Requires sharp drainage. ...Read MoreThis is a plant for the rock garden rather than the border.

Said to be less robust/hardy than 'Giuseppe'.

This is an old cultivar possibly raised by Georg Arends in Germany in the 1930s.

Geranium cinereum ssp. subcaulescens is now generally treated as a separate species, G. subcaulescens.

Received the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), 1993 Award of Garden Merit. Reconfirmed in 2006.