Young seedlings

The young seedlings of Geranium maderense, Geranium Pulchrum & Erodium pelargoniflorum are all growing well.

Pelargonium sibthorpiifolium

P. sibthorpiifolium is an unusual and critically endangered xerophyte pelargonium that grows in Northern and Southern areas of the Orange river, Luderitz to Alexander bay along the coast, in dunes and desert which has humidity deep in the sand with very hot & dry conditions.

The name sibthorpiifolium refers to the leaf shape of this species which resembles that of a sibthorpia plant also known as a Cornish moneywort found in Western Europe and also Greece, Crete & parts of Africa.

This plant is rare mainly because it has numerous tubers which dies away and is then difficult to find,

and is also threatened by habitat loss and mining, it can only be seen for a certain amount of time and has not cultivated that much in Europe.

In 1779 Pelargonium Sibthorpiifolium was discovered by William Paterson (a Scottish colonel, explorer & botanist) and Robert Jacob Gordon (a Dutch officer, explorer & naturalist) when they were exploring and studying areas of South Africa, but was not again discovered a long time after this period.

The leaves are kidney shaped mid to grayish green and has underground tubers,The flowers are white with pale pink and purple markings on the petals, similar to P. cortusifolium.

Pelargonium Caffrum

P. caffrum is a rare pelargonium with delicate features similar to that of P. bowkeri, the flower petals are fringe like & deep red in colour which are night scented.
It has a tuberous root with deeply divided leaves and flowers mostly during the Summer. It doesn’t like too much hot sun and prefers sun part of the day with light rain in Winter. The picture is an illustration of the P. caffrum flowers

Pelargonium gibbosum

Pelargonium gibbosum is growing well and has spread its long succulent branches outwards which can spread over a meter across and are swollen at the nodes. The leaves are also slightly succulent in appearance which are irregularly toothed, P. gibbosum can develop a thick mound over time up to 30 cm in height and then forms a caudiciform base.