Erodium pelargoniiflorum 'Sweetheart'

Name: Erodium pelargoniiflorum ‘Sweetheart’ – Long-Flowering Drought-Tolerant Perennial
Brand: Erodium
SKU: pda500
Price: 5.9 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

€5,90

Organic

Sustainable

Locally grown

Erodium pelargoniiflorum ‘Sweetheart’ is a small perennial from the geranium family, valued for its long flowering period and delicate, veined blossoms.

The foliage - bright green on top, paler on the bottom, evergreen and aromatic when crushed.

The flowers are ... they are something else.

- The five-petaled flowers are quite special - white with light purple veins running through them.
- On top of that, the top two petals have splashes of a darker pink that resembles a splash of red wine spilling outwards.

In suitable conditions it can flower from spring well into autumn, sometimes as long as April through November.

Just magnificent.

The plant itself forms a low, compact mound, usually around 20–30 cm high, with soft, slightly hairy foliage that may have a mild scent when touched.

Flowering	March, April
Exposure	Half Sun/Half Shade
Frost Tolerance	–15 °C
Size	Outdoors
Soil	Rocky, Dry
Origin	Turkey
Planting Season	March to May, September to November

pda500

€5,90

Out of stock

🪴9x9 cm

🚂 Ships across EU
🌱 Grown in our nursery

🌱 Loves rock gardens, in dry soil, in dry gardens - as a ground cover or as a statement plant.
☀️ It thrives in full sun or light shade
💦 Winter wetness is the biggest threat, so raised beds, rock gardens, or containers are often ideal environments

The species has a slightly confusing history in horticulture.

Some nurseries have sold plants under the name Erodium pelargoniiflorum ‘Sweetheart’ that appear instead to be Erodium trifolium.

The two look similar, so plants may be mislabeled. I have raised my plants from seed (bought from a venerable and esteemed seed provider) so I believe that there is no confusion here!

The plant’s seed pods behave like many erodiums and geraniums, coiling and twisting as they dry; in some species these can be sharp when dry, so gardeners with pets sometimes prefer to monitor them, though this is more anecdotal than a documented hazard.

Originally from Turkey, this pelargonium-flowered Erodium is a perennial relative of geraniums, belonging to the same Geraniaceae family. It is a xerophytic plant (adapted to hot, dry climates), with a woody base and a shrubby habit, forming thin, slightly sticky and softly hairy segmented stems.

It has a bushy, rounded, well-branched growth habit, forming a cushion-like mound about 25 to 30 cm in all directions, with fairly slow growth.

Its evergreen foliage is aromatic when crushed, bright green with a paler underside. The small leaves (about 3 × 4 cm) are softly hairy, heart-shaped, lobed, and finely toothed.

Flowering is very long-lasting, extending from spring to autumn, though it slows during prolonged drought.

At the end of slender, softly hairy and slightly sticky stalks, appear delicate umbels of 5 to 8 small cup-shaped flowers. Each flower has five rounded petals that are white and marked with three violet stripes. The base of the petals is pink; the two upper petals are speckled with deep pink, and the stamens are also pink.

The fruit is a slightly hairy beak-like structure enclosed in the calyx, resembling a crane’s bill, which gives the plant its common name.