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I don't know much about cranesbills, otherwise known as perennial geranium. My only experience with them in years past was with a healthy, old specimen that grew in the shade behind my house. Since I didn't plant it and it was doing well I never checked to see what the ideal growing conditions would be for cranesbills.

My daughter-in-law gave me a couple of pink flowered specimens and I planted them in a shady area of my front yard, near the house. They have done reasonably well and every year I get a little crop of pink flowers to admire.
Last year, at a yard sale, I discovered several cranesbills for sale and the price was so good, 25 cents each, that I bought all of them. I planted them all in a shady location near the greenhouse in the back yard. All, that is, except for one, which I tossed into the flowerbed stationed directly in front of the greenhouse, a hot, dry, unpleasant location, compared to the shady raised bed in which I place the other cranesbills.
The plants in the shade are doing fine, although I thought they were growing slowly, but the plant in the hot location is doing stupendously. Apparently they like it hot and dry, so guess who will be moving the shaded cranesbills, albeit not until I find an easy way to do it.
Hubby says there might be room for some of the geraniums in the flowerbed around the greenhouse. Of course, since they don't bloom all summer long I'll want to be sure there is room for some annuals.
Some other plants that I have growing in shady areas, that prefer hotter, drier areas, are yarrow, pinks, baby's-breath, iris, sedum (some sedums don't like too much heat though), daylilies, edelweiss, and some hens and chicks. All of them are doing just fine, thank you, although I would do well to divide them and put some of them in a sunnier location. I would likely have happier plants and more flowers.
My bleeding heart plants didn't make it through the winter. Though they were in their favoured shade I think they expired because I didn't give them enough water last fall and failed to water them quickly this spring. The dryness was just too much for them.
Another plant that likes to grow in shade and damp, which I planted in my dry shady area, is columbine. I only have one plant and somehow it manages, despite wanting more water than it generally gets.
I try not to water my plants too often, but when I do water them I water them very well. Experts say plants watered

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