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Pelargonium sidoides
Home Plants Pelargonium sidoides
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Pelargonium sidoides

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This charming Pelargonium is putting on a show of flower in the Dry Garden containers.

A South African native, Pelargonium sidoides is a perennial species which will survive winter if given a permanent, hot, sunny, well-drained position in the garden.  Here it is grown for summer colour, and will be overwintered in a cold greenhouse, where it will be kept relatively dry.  It is a delicate plant reaching 30cm in height, whose long-stalked, velvety, scalloped foliage makes stunning contrast with the deep burgundy flowers.  The thickened, underground, root-like branches are an adaptation to surviving grass fires, which occur throughout much of it’s range in the eastern Cape, Lesotho, Free State and southern and south-western Gauteng of South Africa, at altitudes up to 2300m.   An extract from the roots has long been used in traditional herbal medicine to treat colds and flus.

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