Tuberous Pelargonium
David Victor (Sat, 28 Aug 2004 02:09:04 PDT)

My favorite tuberous one may be P. appendiculatum although it is rather
futile to say which is best. This species becomes a plant a few feet across
with the most gorgeous, soft, downy gray leaves you will ever see (much more
gray than the WIKI specimen). Then it blooms very late in season (in May
here) when most of the others are done.

Andrew,

Its an interesting plant and, as you say, the foliage is its best
feature. My guess is that the more sun it gets, the greyer it becomes:
this year has not been a good one for sun in the UK and that may account
for the extra green effect. Its also an interesting plant in that for many
years it was thought to be a plant of Section Hoarea. However, eventually
it was realised that plants in the wild had stems which precludes that
possibility, so it was moved to Section Ligularia. It was always a strange
one in its original classification as it was so large.

Of course, P. incrassatum is everyone's favorite. I think you've seen it in
bloom in Namaqualand, haven't you? Today, of the tuberous kinds, I notice P.
nephrophyllum putting out deep pink blooms from bare soil. And like the rest
of the tuberous kinds it is in full shade, unwatered all summer. But, it's a
bit early.

It interest me that you grow them in shade, as here I grow them in full
sun. However, in the wild they do tend to grow under the shade of other
vegetation with only their long flower scapes lifting the flowers above the
foliage.

Hi Mark,

I grow a wide variety of Pelargoniums including tuberous species and hardy
ones. The hardy Pelargoniums are P. endlicherianum and P. quercetorum.

Interesting that you mention these two, both of which I grow. Whilst not
tuberous, they do have woody rootstocks and are both fascinating plants. I
particularly like P. quercetorum, with its masses of pink blooms. My
plants currently in flower, with six or seven inflorescences, each carrying
twenty or so blooms. a great plant!

I'm curious about sources of tuberous Pelargonium varieties

I added a piece yesterday as to where I source mine from, mainly from South
Africa.

If you are gonna be sucked in by these fantastic plants can I suggest you
buy the 3 volumes of 'Pelargoniums of South Africa' which have fantastic
colour drawings for each plant.

I quite agree that these are a fine set of books on the subject, although
some of the naming, particularly in volume 1, has since been changed. As I
mentioned in my piece, I also think the book by Diana Miller is
particularly good in terms of the species and genus. Specialist
information regarding the tuberous Section Hoarea is best found in either
Charles Craib's book or the totally definitive revision by Betti Marais.

Best regards,
David Victor